Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India entered into a new dimension through inaugurating transshipment of goods on Thursday.
The long-awaited transshipment of Indian goods through Bangladesh began on the day aiming to boost both the economies through promoting trade and moment of people between the two countries.
Shipping Minister of Bangladesh Shahjahan Khan formally inaugurated the transshipment at the Ashuganj river port on the day, saying that Bangladeshi ships and trucks would be carrying goods, and jobs would be created for local people.
"We will earn more revenue after developing proper infrastructure and setting up scanning machines and other equipment to facilitate the transshipment process," the minister explained.
Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh, thanked Dhaka for allowing New Delhi to use Bangladesh's territory to carry goods from India's one part to another. "This is an extraordinary gesture of friendship of Bangladeshi people to the people of India.”
The Indian envoy also expressed hope that it would add an impetus to economic activities in the area and will be good for the people of the region and good for the peoples of India and Bangladesh.
At the ceremony, representatives of both the countries watched the unloading of goods from the first consignment at Ashuganj port.
Now the goods will be loaded onto Bangladeshi trucks to carry them across the Indo-Bangla border through Akhaura checkpoint. The vehicles will travel another 32 kilometres to deliver the consignment to warehouses in the Indian state of Tripura.
The formal launch of the facility was marked by unloading of 1,000 tonnes of iron rods, meant for Tripura, from a ship that reached the Ashuganj river port on Wednesday morning. The ship was waiting there for the occasion.
Bangladeshi trucks will be loaded with the cargoes on Friday before the vehicles head for the Indo-Bangla border at Akhaura. The vehicles would travel about 52 kilometres from the Ashuganj river port to Akhaura.
Mashiur Rahman, who has played the key role in negotiations on transhipment arrangement, said people have to understand the geographic reality as Bangladesh is surrounded by India.
People living in the bordering areas of neighbouring countries depend on each other for their day-to-day activities. "So there should be exchange of goods and movement of people."
A Bangladeshi ship, Newtech-6, loaded with about 1,000 tonnes of iron rods, sailed from Kolkata on June 3 and reached the port in Khulna's Angtihara on June 7.
The crew made payment to the NBR office there and got clearance for the onward voyage. The vessel finally set out for Ashuganj on June 11 and reached the port on Wednesday morning.
The government had earlier allowed transshipment of 50,000 tonnes of Indian food-grains to Tripura via the Ashuganj river port on humanitarian grounds, without charging any levies. But this time they have to pay about BDT 192.25 per tonne in transshipment fee besides other charges.
Under the formal transit now, India has to pay all charges, like transshipment fee, berthing fee, landing fee, pilot fee, channel charge, labour hauling etc.
Transit goods will be brought from Kolkata to Ashuganj through the river route and then from Ashuganj to Agartala, the capital of Tripura, by the land route.
India has been demanding transshipment of its cargoes from West Bengal to the land-locked seven sisters of the big neighbour for long, transportation of goods by road bypassing Bangladesh costs almost double the amount required for doing it through Bangladesh via Ashuganj.
To make the transshipment a reality, the two countries signed a revised river protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade under a bilateral trade agreement in Dhaka in June last year during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka .
Under the revised agreement both India and Bangladesh would use each other's territories for transiting goods to a third country. The modified deal would enable Bangladesh to use Indian territories for transporting goods to Nepal and Bhutan. Similarly, India would access Myanmar by crossing over Bangladesh.
BBN/SSR/AD