NE India turns to Bangladesh, Myanmar for rice

Transport bottlenecks have forced India’s northeastern states to procure much needed rice from neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Indian government has floated bids to import rice from Myanmar for northeastern states of Manipur and Mizoram. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is ferrying rice from other parts of India via Bangladesh for Tripura state. The poor transport connectivity in some northeastern states worsened after train services from the rest of India were halted in southern Assam October 1, snapping rail connection to Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram. This has been done so that rail tracks can be converted from metre to broad gauge. Tripura Food, Civil Supplies and Finance Minister Bhanulal Saha told IANS: ‘Rice is being ferried from other parts of India via Bangladesh to avoid the long and mountainous surface road up to Tripura via Assam and Meghalaya. Also, the stoppage of train services has created serious problems for carrying rice through the traditional system and route.’ Saha said ‘5,000 tonnes of rice transported in 3 small ships from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh reached Bangladesh’s Ashuganj river port on Oct 12. ‘From Ashuganj, Bangladeshi trucks will carry the rice to FCI warehouses in Nandannagar (near Agartala) within a day or two,’ he said. In August, 5,000 tonnes of rice reached Tripura through the same route, according to bdnews24.com.