Tripura seeks more foodgrains through Chittagong

Tripura has sought to move 35000 MT foodgrains a month through the Chittagong-Asuganj route from August.

News DeskNews deskbdnews24.com
Published : 29 July 2014, 04:11 AM
Updated : 29 July 2014, 06:15 AM

Work on broad gauge conversion of an important section of the northeastern frontier railway that starts next month will make it difficult for Tripura to receive its monthly requirement of foodgrains by railways, officials told www.tripurainfoway.com in capital Agartala.

They said Bangladesh, which has already allowed 10000 MT foodgrain transhipment through the Chittagong- Asuganj route is 'actively considering' Tripura's request for more than tripling the quota until the railways finish the broad gauge conversion on the Lumding route.

Though government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina , who has a special soft corner for Tripura, has already allowed transhipment of 10000 MT of foodgrains to Tripura using this sea-river route, 'vested interests' in Food Corporation of india (FCI) and Indian railways have avoided using the route.

Tripura Infoway report says they managed to convince the Tripura state administration that this route may prove more expensive than railway transhipment through Assam.

But now with work on broad gauge conversion on the Lumding section of the NF Railway due to start soon, Tripura government is worried about a sharp drop in flow of foodgrains that the FCI brings in using the railways.

"It is in this context, that we have approached Bangladesh to consider upping our transhipment requirement at least until the railway conversion job is finished," said a senior state government official to www.tripurainfoway.com .

But he was not willing to be named.

Indian diplomats in Dhaka told bdnews24.com that the Bangladesh government is considering Tripura's request 'rather positively'.

"PM Hasina has a huge soft corner for Tripura. She has told her officials Bangladesh must help Tripura out during her time of distress as Tripura during 1971. That is a huge thing for Tripura, coming as it does from the prime minister of Bangladesh," said an Indian diplomat in Dhaka, but again unwilling to be named.

Hasina has already told her officials not to charge for maintenance and repairs of the Asuganj-Aakhaura road through which the transhipment would be done.

"I cannot ask Tripura for money, after what they did for us in 1971," she reportedly
told her officials who immediately gauged her mood and stepped back from pressing for charges.

But the Indian diplomat said it was high time that Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar puts pressure on Delhi to fund permanent upgradation of the Asuganj-Akhaura road because it is mostly used for transhipment to Tripura.

Tripura officials say that a 'vested quarter' in the FCI and railways, who realise they would lose business if Tripura took the Bangladesh route for transhipment of foodgrains.

They tried to sell the logic to the Tripura government that the Chittagong-Asuganj route would be more expensive.

"Perhaps initially that might be the case because of multiple switch overs at Chittagong, Asuganj and Akhaura but finally the costs will come down," logistics expert Atin Kumar Sen told www.tripurainfoway.com.

"Labour costs at these points when the loads change transport several times drives up initial costs, but finally they come down when deals are struck with Bangladesh cargo operators."

Sen's company ABC was involved in the initial transhipment of the heavy equipment for Palatana power plant and he is general secretary of the Calcutta-based Asian Council of Logistics Management (ACLM).