Bangladesh has agreed to allow India to use its waterways to Ashuganj river port on Meghna, about 37 km from Agartala, for carrying food grains from Kolkata to Tripura. Bangladesh government agreed to a request by the Centre to use its waterways up to Ashuganj port from Kolkata to carry 10,000 million tonne (mt) of food grains and more than 500 trucks would be engaged by that country’s government, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supply department BK Roy said.
The distance between Kolkata and Agartala via hilly areas of Assam by surface transport is about 1,700 km, which is reduced to 3,50 km if the movement is through the plains of Bangladesh.
Currently, Indian and Bangladesh waterways connect West Bengal and Assam states and Inland Waterways Authority of India and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority are operating vessels on these routes.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.