With the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar Government taking its time to acquire and hand over pockets of land required to connect the 20.9-km stretch between Hathua and Bathua Bazar on the Hathua-Bhatni section of North Eastern Railway (NER), Lalu's dream plan will have to wait for some more time.

If Lalu had his way, the Rs 60-crore link, powered with all the sanctions from the Railway Ministry, would have been inaugurated by last year, connecting Phulwaria with Rabri's native village, Salar Kalan, a mere 2.9 km away.

Starting from Hathua, the proposed link is planned to touch Lain Bazar, Salar Khurd and Phulwaria before reaching Bathua Bazar, all in Gopalganj district.

However, despite being one of the "top priorities" for the Railways, NER is struggling to complete the project even a year later. During a recent conference of General Managers of Zonal Railways held at Rail Bhavan, senior NER officials apologetically informed the minister that work on HathuaBathua Bazar was not progressing well due to non-availability of land.

NER's General Manager said that Railways has almost completed work in areas where land plots have been provided.

However, these areas cannot be linked in the absence of possession of land falling in between.