Bangladesh asked to allow ferry of rice by using waterways: Minster

AGARTALA: The Centre has asked Bangladesh for extending the facility of ferrying another 35,000 tonne of rice for Tripura by using its waterways and the Ashuganj river port of the neighbouring country near the state capital here, a minister said today.

Tripura Food and Civil supplies minister Bhanu Lal Saha said following our persuasion the Centre has taken up the matter with the neighbouring country as the train services in Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Barak valley areas of Assam came a halt from October 1 due to 'mega Block' imposed by the NF Railways for converting the meter gauge line to broad gauge.

The gauge conversion work will end in March 2016. "Earlier Bangladesh allowed us to ferry 20,000 tonne of rice from Kakinara port in Andhra Pradesh in two phases and hope that they would allow another 35,000 tonne of rice this time for creating a buffer stock," Saha told reporters.

Earlier, Director Food and Civil Supplies Saumitra Banerjee said transportation of food grains by using the Ashuganj port, only 37 km from here is much easier because by availing this facility the hilly and zigzag roads through 'chicken neck' in West Bengal and terrains of Assam could be avoided.

The distance between Agartala to Kolkata is reduced to 350 km when travelled through Bangladesh. Otherwise, it is 1750 km through Assam and Siliguri in West Bengal.