From Our Correspondent
AGARTALA: Having failed to draw ‘response’, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is now contemplating to invite fresh tender for ferrying food grains and other essential commodities through Ashuganj port of Bangladesh to the geographically isolated state, sources said here on Monday.
No contractor came up for the job in response to the first tender and now the FCI plans to float tender for the same purpose, said an official of Food and Civil Supplies department who did not want to be quoted.
According to him, this time the rate for the carrying food stuff would be hiked to attack carrying contractors.
Earlier, the Bangladesh government had agreed to allow it’s soil for carrying food grains and other essential commodities from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj port.
When the Bangladesh government has allowed food grains through Ashuganj port in the country from Kolkata, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has taken initiative to bring them using the water route which would cut off the distance and hassles of carrying through the mountainous region by trucks.
However, two-month buffer stock has been created so that the transport bottlenecks did not come on the way of Public Distribution System (PDS) during the monsoon season.
“We would like to bring 5000 MT rice from Kolkata to Agartala via Ashuganj port bypassing the Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44),” he said adding that the Centre had agreed to provide Rs 25 crore for setting 16 godowns in the state for storing 10,000 MT of rice.
The northeastern states have largely been dependent on supply of food grains from other states especially Punjab and Haryana.
Due to shortage of rail wagons, inadequate storage facilities and various other bottlenecks, the northeastern states have been suffering from poor supply of food grains for most part of the year, especially during the monsoon. In the monsoon road transport through Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44) becomes extremely difficult due to hilly terrain and land slips.
When the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Guwahati is 1,650 km it reduces to 350 km through Bangladesh.