Dhaka: In the backdrop of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s first visit to Bangladesh, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said there is no reason for the country to provide its land to India in Brahmanbaria to expand Agartala airport.
BNP also said that their party is not ‘optimistic’ about getting any positive outcome to resolve the outstanding problems with India from the visit of the minister.
“There have been media reports about it (India’s desire to use Bangladeshi land in Brahmanbaria). We are closely observing the matter,” said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Earlier, the Indian government has sought 52 acres of land from Bangladesh to expand the runway of Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram airport.
The two-and-a-half kilometre runway of the airport is situated at the edge of the border with Bangladesh and the work is underway to convert the MBB Airport into an international airport.
“Bangladesh government has not agreed yet, and there is no question about providing any land. There’s no reason to give our land to any other country,” Alamgir further said. (UNI)
