‘Give Bangladesh flyers direct access to Agartala airport’
GUWAHATI: Tripura Chief Minister, Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday called upon Bangladesh government to enlist Tripura as a major export point for the neigbouring country besides reiterating the request for direct access for Bangladeshi flyers to Agartala Airport.
Deb made these requests before a top Bangladesh delegation, including the Commerce minister of the country and the advisor to the PM who were attending the two-day India-Bangladesh Stakeholders’ Meet here.
Addressing the inaugural session of the conclave, Deb said, “I had put the request with our Central government for taking up the matter with Bangladesh. I had placed the request when the Bangladesh Prime Minister had visited New Delhi recently, and I am once again putting the same request here today with the Commerce minister of Bangladesh and the Economic Adviser to the PM of Bangladesh present here.”
Deb informed that received the request for direct access for Bangladeshi flyers to Agartala airport from the people of Bangladesh when he had flown with them to Agartala recently.
He said, “The people from Bangladesh who were on the same flight with me informed that they have to shell out hefty amounts of money and time to change vehicles for a hardly 10-minute distance to cross the border to access the Agartala airport.”
“If commercial or passenger vehicles are given destination-to-destination access, with due rules and guidelines, and the people from Bangladesh can conveniently travel in the same vehicle up to Agartala airport,” he added.
He also urged the neighbouring country to include Tripura as a major export point, along with West Bengal, and said, “At present, most of the export from Bangladesh is happening through West Bengal, whereas Tripura is more accessible for Bangladesh. I urge the Bangladesh Commerce Minister to increase the volume of export through Tripura.”
Referring to the agreements and MoUs signed during Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi earlier this month, Deb said North Eastern region would to benefit the most from these pacts.
“Under the pacts, NE will get access to the ports of Bangladesh, particularly Chittagong port. This will cut our transportation costs very drastically since the distance to the nearest port, which had been Haldia port in West Bengal now, will be decreased by half. And this will help bring prices of commodities in the region,” he said.
“Bangladesh too will benefit immensely as infrastructure will improve with acceleration of trade and development,” he added.
Airport expansion: The Agartala airport, recently renamed as Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Airport, is the second busiest in North East India and shares the border with Bangladesh.
Deb informed that Tripura government had also been exhorting the Centre to persuade Bangladesh to allow expansion of the airport in the neighbouring country’s territory as further expansion within India was not feasible.
The Tripura CM further requested the Bangladesh government for developing the protocol road in the Meghna-Gomti rivers route at the earliest.