Bangladesh not to take any fee for food transport to Tripura

Dhaka, July 6, 2014 (New Age): The Bangladesh government has waived the transhipment charge from Food Corporation of India, to facilitate transportation of 10,000 tonnes of rice for Tripura by 700 Bangladeshi goods carriers via Ashuganj river port, reports Times of India. ‘We have been informed that the Bangladesh government will not charge anything for transhipment and transportation of rice through its port and roads for Tripura as a goodwill gesture,’ said a senior official of the state administration. The official added that the Bangladesh government had already cleared transhipping of rice from Haldia port in West Bengal to Ashuganj. Bangladesh foreign ministry has also intimated its Indian counterparts to allow tax-free transportation of rice from the port to the Akhaura land custom station. They also decided to renovate 58-km roads from the port to the land custom station at its own cost. The renovation will help a smooth and speedy movement of trucks, officials said. Earlier, Zee News reported that the food grain would be ferried by small ships from Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh to Ashuganj and then by road to Tripura in Bangladeshi trucks. Ashuganj is 31 kilometres from Tripura capital Agartala. ‘The FCI had earlier floated tenders to select Bangladeshi transporters. After a series of diplomatic and administrative parleys involving various Bangladeshi ministries and India’s food, finance, shipping and external affairs ministries, the long-pending matter was settled recently,’ Tripura’s principal secretary (food, civil supplies and consumer affairs) BK Roy told the IANS. Earlier, in 2012, Bangladesh had allowed India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to ferry heavy machinery, turbines and cargo through Ashuganj for the 726 MW Palatana mega power project in southern Tripura. The Indian government had spent several millions of rupees to develop the port and related infrastructure. ‘After Tripura, food grains would be ferried through Bangladesh for other north-eastern states, including Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam, to save time and costs, besides ensuring certainty,’ an FCI official said. ‘Due to shortage of rail wagons, inadequate storage facilities and various other bottlenecks, the north-eastern states have been suffering from poor supply of food grains for most part of the year, especially during the monsoon (June to September),’ Tripura’s food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister Bhanulal Saha told the IANS. ‘In view of conversion of railway lines from metre gauge to broad gauge, the Northeast Frontier Railway would stop train services in Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and southern Assam from October. In view of this, transportation of food grains and other essentials from different parts of the country to northeast India via Bangladesh is very vital,’ the minister added. The eight north-eastern states, including Sikkim, are largely dependent on the bigger states of India for food grain and essential commodities. Surface connectivity is a key factor as the mountainous region is surrounded by Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and China, and the only land route to these states from within India is through Assam and West Bengal. During the monsoon season, road transport becomes very difficult due to floods and landslides. For ferrying essentials, goods and heavy machinery from abroad and other parts of the country, India has for long been asking Bangladesh land, sea and rail access to the northeast. Agartala via Guwahati, for instance, is 1,650 km from Kolkata and 2,637 km from New Delhi. The distance between the Tripura capital and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just about 350 km. The FCI would carry the food grain via Bangladesh in association with the Inland Waterways Authority of India. Indian and Bangladeshi waterways connect West Bengal and Assam. The IWAI and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority are operating vessels on these routes. The two neighbours share 2,979 km of land border and 1,116 km of riverine boundary and also share 54 rivers, including eight rivers flowing from Tripura.