Railway authorities will connect former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ancestral village Bateshwar with the new Agra-Etawah rail line by the end of this year, official said on Tuesday.
North Central Railway’s General Manager Pradeep Kumar said that it was a long pending demand to connect Bateshwar with Agra-Etawah rail line. The link will become operational by December, he said. Bateswar is a small village that lies in Agra district and is between Agra and Etawah. It is 5 km from Bah. Vajayee’s first political exposure was from this village when he along with his brother were arrested in August 1942 in this village and remained in jail for 23 days.
The announcement of the launch of this line is being seen as a boon for the natives of Bateshwar as it was Vajpayee’s dream to connect his ancestral village to a railway link passing through prime cities. Vajpayee had announced this mega rail connecting project on April 1, 1999. The project had seen many ups and downs with change in Governments at both Centre and State levels.
Even after spending crores, the project hit a road block due to non-acquisition of five hectares of land. BJP blamed poor coordination between railway and administrative authorities for the delay in project.According to an estimate, railway authorities have spent around Rs 214.90 crore on this project till now.Kumar said the rail line connecting Agra-Bateshwar-Etawah is ready for the final round of trial. He said all the issues related to land acquisition have been resolved.
“The trials for the rail engine have already been done on the new tracks from Bateshwar to Etawah. The full-fledged train service will be launched by the end of the year”, he said.Bateshwar, is an important tourist destination as it holds the annual cattle fair every monsoon which is famous across India. It is known for 101 Shiva temple complex.