ভারতের আবদার বলে কথা, ভারতকে দেয়া হচ্ছে চট্টগ্রাম ও মংলা বন্দর
India's demands to say, India is the Chittagong and Mongla ports
India wants to use the Chittagong and Mongla seaports to ferry goods to and from India. Bangladesh will propose an increase in the number of protocol routes if India wants to do that, sources said, and will also seek a hike in dredging cost compensation. India currently pays Bangladesh only Tk. 10 crore annually for the vital work.
The shipping secretaries of Bangladesh and India will meet in Dhaka today to sort out such issues. Sources said this year’s shipping secretary-level meeting has acquired added significance as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was likely to visit India in the third week of this month. Certain shipping and water-related memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and agreements were expected to be signed during the visit, they added. The Bangladesh PM will hold a meeting with her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in New Delhi. Bangladesh shipping secretary Ashok Madhob Roy will lead a 15-member delegation, while Indian shipping secretary Rajive Kumar will lead a nine-member team at the meeting. The meeting’s agenda has been finalised.
According to sources in the shipping ministry, the agenda includes: (1) a MoU on lighthouses and light ships, (2) standard operating procedures (SOPs) of MoU on passenger and coastal services on the coastal and protocol routes, (3) an agreement/MoU on the Paira port for cooperation in building a multipurpose container terminal, and (4) an agreement between Bangladesh and India on the use of the Chittagong and Mongla ports for movement of goods to and from India.
The Indian high commission in Bangladesh had written a letter to the shipping ministry on October 18 this year, seeking the use of the seaports.
According to sources, details—including additional fees on imports and exports, Customs duties and administrative fees for the facility of infrastructures—would be discussed at the meeting for using the Chittagong and Mongla ports.
The Bangladesh delegation comprises the additional secretary in the shipping ministry, Rafiqul Islam, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Subrata Roy Maitra, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) chairman, Rear Admiral Khaled Iqbal, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) chairman, Commodore Mohammad Mozammel Haque, director general of the shipping department, Commodore M Zakiur Rahman, and National Board of Revenue (NBR) member Feroz Shah Alam. The Indian delegation comprises the joint commissioner of Customs in Agartala, director of the shipping ministry, MK Saha, advisor to the shipping ministry, Rajat Sachar, member (traffic) of the Inland Waterways Authority, Shrikant Mahariya, and chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority, Amitabh Verma. The last shipping secretary-level meeting was held in New Delhi on November 16 last year, in which the two countries exchanged the draft standard operating procedure (SOP).