Only a few more hours. The clock and calendar pages will move on the new day. That date is November 11. It is a normal day for everyone else, but for the people of Samudranagari Cox's Bazar, this day is the day of opening the door of dreams. And Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is coming to Cox's Bazar to open the door of that dream with her own hands.
The long 92-year wait of the people in this region will end with the hands of the Prime Minister. The train whistle will sound, new history will be written. Another district will be connected by railway. I was talking about the inauguration of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar 102 km railway project. Just what railroad! The country's first iconic railway station will also be inaugurated.
On this day, the Prime Minister is expected to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 19 projects worth Tk 88 thousand crore including the Cox's Bazar railway line. And Maheshkhali is scheduled to address the public meeting of Awami League at Matarbari. The overall preparation for that purpose is now at the final stage.
On Friday (November 10), the district city was seen to welcome the Prime Minister, dressed up in the whole Cox's Bazar. A large arch has been constructed on the road next to the iconic railway station in Chanderpara area of Jhelongja Union of Sadar Upazila. Banner-festoons have been displayed depicting various developmental works of the government. Starting from the main road of the city, lanes-bylanes are covered with banners and posters.
Immaculate security has been taken throughout the newly constructed Cox's Bazar railway station. Special Security Force (SSF), police, RAB and other law enforcement agencies have surrounded the colorful podium and surrounding area for several kilometers. Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police Mahfuzur Rahman inspected the overall law and order activities.
Meanwhile, around the arrival of the Prime Minister, there was a festive mood among the locals. Various discussions are going on from the surrounding areas to the hotels and shops. When will the Prime Minister come, in which direction will he enter, what will he say.
A shopkeeper named Zafar Mahmood of Jhelongar said, "Discussions about the Prime Minister's arrival have been going on in the shop for the past few days. How will you come, what will you do decorating the whole town. We will benefit a lot from the inauguration of this railway line. There will be business.
A tourist from Dhaka named Nijhum Das said, "It will be convenient for us if the train starts." Now I think I am coming from Dhaka, there is a lot of jam, the journey has been done. In the train, there will be no money for these. You can come here safely on time. Save time. This is definitely good news for tourism lovers.
According to district administration sources, on the morning of November 11, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will speak at the inauguration of the rail line project from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar at Cox's Bazar iconic railway station premises. After the inauguration, he will collect tickets from the ticket counter of Cox's Bazar Iconic Railway Station and fly the flag and blow the whistle. Then the Prime Minister will travel by rail to Ramu.
After that the Prime Minister will go to Matarbari of Maheshkhali upazila by helicopter from Ramu. There Matarbari will inaugurate the deep sea port channel and lay the foundation stone of the first terminal. After that, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will address a public meeting organized by Maheshkhali Upazila Awami League at Matarbari township ground. It is also known that Matarbari will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development projects including 120 MW ultra super critical coal based thermal power plant.
Deputy Commissioner of Cox's Bazar Muhammad Shaheen Imran said, "On Saturday, the Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of 19 projects worth about Tk 88 thousand crores. Out of which 15 projects including railways will be inaugurated and the foundation stones of 4 projects will be laid. All preparations have been completed for that purpose.
Meanwhile, an 80-foot-long boat-shaped stage has been constructed at the public meeting site, where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will deliver a speech. The public meeting will become a sea of people, says Central Awami League Organizing Secretary and Jatiya Sangsad Whip Abu Saeed Al Mahmud Swapan.
He said, 'Maheshkhali-Kutubdia Member of Parliament Ashek Ullah Rafiq will gather several lakhs of people. Samiana has been arranged at the gathering place, so that people do not suffer sun heat. Water supply and mobile toilets have also been set up there.
Maheshkhali-Kutubdia (Cox's Bazar-2) Constituency MP Ashek Ullah told Barta4.com, "There are more than 4 lakh people in Maheshkhali, 2 lakh in Kutubdia, and people from all the upazilas around Cox's Bazar want to come. But there is a matter of time, and of the car, when we come here. We are hoping to get 5 lakh people to attend the rally.
He said, 'It will actually turn into a sea of people. How many people will come to the meeting is not the main issue. The issue is that Sheikh Hasina is coming to remote areas. The message that he has created an island development mission will spread to millions of people through mass media. He is not only inaugurating the project here, but I can also hear the plans he has for Maheshkhali in Bangladesh in the future.
Dohazari-Cox's Bazar Rail Line Project Director (PD) Subaktgin told Barta24.com, 'We are eagerly waiting for the arrival of our honorable Prime Minister, who is very railway friendly and has done many things for the railways. As a result of which we were able to do this project. We expect him to be at our venue by 11am on Saturday. Here, Sudhi will address the project and development in the assembly.
He said, "We will take the Honorable Prime Minister by train to Ramu on the new railway line. We will run the railway line at a speed of 80 kmThis is how I made it. But on Saturday we will go a little slower with the Prime Minister. He will do the next program from Ramu.
Meanwhile, including this time, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has visited Cox's Bazar 13 times in the last 15 years. Finally on 7 December 2022, Cox's Bazar was Prime Minister. And with the sincere efforts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Cox's Bazar has changed through the implementation of 98 projects worth three and a half lakh crore rupees. After the public meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will return to Dhaka in the afternoon.
It is known that there was no rail connection with Cox's Bazar before the construction of the railway. Initially, it was a single line dual gauge track construction project from Dohazari to Ramu to Cox's Bazar and from Ramu to Ghumdhum. It was supposed to build a total of 129.58 kilometers of railway line. Later the work on Ramu to Ghumdhoom portion was postponed. Now the construction of 100.83 km railway line from Chattogram's Dohazari to Cox's Bazar via Ramu has been completed.
On April 3, 2011, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the construction of meter gauge railway up to Dohazari-Ramu-Cox's Bazar. This includes 88 km from Chattogram's Dohazari to Ramu and 12 km from Ramu to Cox's Bazar.
The project to take trains to tourist towns outside the rail network was estimated to cost Tk 1,852 crore at the time of approval in 2010. In 2016, the cost of project revision increased to 18 thousand 34 crore taka.