After signing an agreement with Bangladesh, India has started shipping foodgrains on the Chittagong-Ashuganj-Agartala route.
The first shipment started off this week.
“It is a win-win for both countries. We can cut down heavily on the cost of transporting foodgrains to our remote northeastern states and Bangladesh transport sector makes money because under the agreement, they supply all vessels and surface transport ,” says Viswapati Trivedi, chairman of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) .
He says the current agreement is to ship 10,000 metric tonnes of foodgrains to the northeastern state of Tripura from Kolkata through Chittagong port and the river port of Ashuganj which is barely 25 kms from Agartala.
“But we are looking at shipping upto 30,000 metric tonnes of foodgrains through this route annually if all goes well. That will drastically cut down the cost of foodgrains for India’s Public Distribution System in the seven northeastern states,” Trivedi said at a seminar of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in Friday.
Tripura official Samarjit Bhowmik told bdnews24.com that it took three months of negotiations to work out this agreement with Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh officials were very considerate. They have already allowed heavy equipment for our Palatana gas thermal power plant to be brought through this (Chittagong-Ashuganj) route. Now this is very kind of them,” Bhowmik said.
It is the one state where people have strongly opposed India’s plans to erect barbed wire fencing on the border with Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has visited Agartala in late 2011 — the only Indian state she visited apart from capital Delhi since she assumed office after the December 2008 parliament elections.
Tripura has also agreed to supply 100 MW of power from its own share in the Palatana power plant which is a central government project but chief minister Manik Sarkar says his government is awaiting clearance from Delhi to make it possible.
Sarkar has also strongly supported Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Teesta River water sharing issue and the Land Boundary agreement with Bangladesh, which has been stalled because of opposition from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerji and the opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party.
Source: bdnews24