Agartala: Tripura has expressed satisfaction over renewal of Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade with Bangladesh for next two years.
Tripura Industries and Commerce Minister Jitendra Choudhury on Tuesday welcomed the move of Ministry of Shipping for strengthening goods transporting facilities in northeastern states through Bangladesh from central parts of India.
“Certainly the protocol will be beneficial for the region, especially for Tripura, because most of the time rail and road connectivity in southern part of northeast gets disrupted due to climate condition,” Mr Choudhury pointed out.
Despite constant persuasion followed by Prime Minister’s commitment, improvement of NH-44 had not yet been done and gauge conversion of rail network between Lumbding and Badarpur had got delayed. More than a crore of people were suffering since independence, he added.
India and Bangladesh had signed a Letter of Exchange agreeing to renew the protocol between the two countries from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2014. The agreement renewing the Protocol would be signed this week.
India’s Shipping Secretary P K Sinha and his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Mannan Howlader had signed the letter of exchange for their respective side after a secretary-level meeting in Dhaka on Tuesday.
India had agreed to pay Rs 20 crore for the next two years for maintenance work of the river routes.
The yearly maintenance covers the routes – Kolkata – Chandpur – Pandu -Silghat; Kolkata – Chandpur – Karimganj; Silghat – Pandu – Ashuganj – Karimganj; Rajshahi – Dhulian; Doikhawa -Sirajganj and Karimganj-Sherpur.
Under the protocol, the two countries have five ports of call on each side – Narayanganj, Khulna, Mongla, Sirajganj and Ashuganj in Bangladesh; and Kolkata, Haldia, Karimganj, Pandu and Silghat in India. (UNI)
