BD allows India food grains transhipment thru' Ashuganj

Syful Islam India has been allowed transhipment of 10,000 tonnes of food grains through the Ashuganj port on humanitarian ground, official sources said. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Sunday asked the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) to draw a schedule for transhipment of 3,000 tonnes of Indian food grains a month for 2/3 months. "The undersigned requests to prepare a schedule for transhipment of 10,000 tonnes of Indian food grains based on a decision taken at a meeting on February 18 with Prime Minister's economic adviser in the chair," director of sub-regional cooperation cell under PMO Shawkat Akbar wrote to the Shipping Secretary. He also referred to no-objection, given by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) on February 23 on the proposed transhipment of food grains. A senior MoS official said, during the bilateral Shipping Secretary level meeting held on February 27-March 2 in New Delhi, the Bangladesh side gave green signal to India regarding the transhipment. India kept the transhipment of food grains at the top of the agenda of the meeting. Returning from New Delhi, Shipping Secretary Syed Monjurul Islam told the FE: "Transhipment is a continuous process. We assured them of considering their request." Earlier, on January 23, the Food Corporation of India sought permission to carry the food grains from the Paschimbanga state to Tripura to feed the local people there. The PMO forwarded the letter to the MoS on February 3 with a positive note attached. Officials said in this special case of transhipment, India will get waiver of bank guarantee against transportation of the food grains. They said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has agreed to give the waiver in this particular case. "If other ministries do not have any objection to the transhipment, the MoC also will not raise any objection to it on humanitarian ground," the MoC said in its opinion. The MoS on February 17 in a letter to the PMO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said there is a scope to allow transhipment under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) between Bangladesh and India. It also said: "There is an infrastructural constraint at the Ashuganj port and it may hamper loading and unloading of goods, though navigability of the Kolkata-Ashuganj waterway throughout the year is quite okay." Earlier, last year, India had sought transhipment facility for 35,000 tonnes of food grains through the same port. The issue was discussed between the Bangladesh Prime Minister and the Indian Vice President in January 2012 in Agartala. It was later further discussed in the Commerce and Shipping Secretary-level talks between the two countries last year, and in the 14th and 15th standing committee meetings under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT). Following the 15th standing committee meeting, Bangladesh asked India to submit a fresh request for transhipment of the 35,000 tonnes of food grains. "A fresh request may be communicated. Bangladesh may consider the issue of transhipment on humanitarian ground, upon consultation with all relevant stakeholders," the agreed minutes of the PIWTT said. India has been seeking transit and transhipment facilities through Bangladesh territory to carry cargoes to its 'Seven Sister' states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. India was allowed the transhipment facility to carry goods to its north-eastern states on a trial basis on September 29, 2011. The transhipment facility was suspended on October 26 same year, as the government decided not to allow handling of any Indian container without development of required infrastructures at the Ashuganj port.