Editorial
Indian transhipment duty waiver will amount to betrayal of people
IT is hardly surprising that India has sustained its pressure on Bangladesh to waive duties on transportation of cargoes from its west to northeast. According to a report front-paged in New Age on Tuesday, which quoted an official of the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh, the Indian high commissioner, Rajeet Mitter, iterated the request during what he termed a 'routine call on' the foreign secretary on Monday. Earlier, the Bangladesh customs authorities obstructed two Indian vessels, which were carrying goods from west to northeast India, from entering into Bangladesh territory after they had declined to pay transit fees. It is not unlikely that New Delhi would continue to exert pressure on Dhaka to secure the waiver. What is also likely—and disquietingly so—is that the Awami League-led government might acquiesce to New Delhi's request—demand would, perhaps, be more precise—sooner than later. Needless to say, the indications are too many to overlook.
It all began with the visit of the foreign minister to New Delhi in September 2009 when Bangladesh agreed to provide India access to Ashuganj port to facilitate 'transport of over-dimensional consignments for the Palatana power project in Tripura' as a 'one-time' deal. Then in January 2010, during the visit of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to New Delhi, the two countries agreed to declare Ashuganj in Bangladesh and Silghat in India as ports of call. Later, in April, at a joint meeting, both sides agreed that Bangladesh would collect duties under her customs laws and, subsequently on May 31, amended the 'Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade' and added Ashuganj and Shilghat as ports of call. Bangladesh also eventually allowed multi-module transit to India after adding Ashuganj as a new transhipment point between the two countries. As per the new arrangement, India can now carry its goods not only by waterways but also by roads and rail transports from one part of its territory to the other through Bangladesh.
As the government accommodated one Indian request after another, its key functionaries and crony 'intellectuals' and 'experts' trumpeted that Bangladesh stands to gain substantial benefit from transhipment of Indian goods, and that the annual revenue could be in the vicinity of Tk 20,000 crores, although a senior economist of the Bangladesh Institute for Development Studies, an associated research organisation of the state, showed that the annual revenue earning could at best be Tk 210 crore but most probably to the tune of Tk 70 crore. It now seems that, if India has its way, Bangladesh may as well say goodbye to any possibility of gaining any monetary benefit from the transhipment deal. Such a grim possibility could very well be closer to becoming a reality as none other than the prime minister's adviser on economic affairs has recently requested the Internal Resources Division to waive charges on Indian vessels plying through Bangladesh river networks.
While we may criticise India for putting pressure on Bangladesh for undue advantages in bilateral trade, it will be difficult to fault it for relentlessly trying to advance its own interest. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of our government's actions or inactions; after all, it has so far shown an inexplicable and, needless to say, inexcusable readiness to compromise on Bangladesh's interest, not only economic but also geo-strategic. The government needs to realise its apparent eagerness to please its Indian counterparts is tantamount to betrayal of the people, who, as the constitution says, are their real masters.
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