[ALOCHONA] Transit takes off at Ashuganj

Transit takes off at Ashuganj

Huge transformers, a massive turbine and numerous other developments at the Ashuganj port indicate transit is in full swing

by ANWAR PARVEZ HALIM

Work is on in full swing at Ashuganj to ensure full implementation of transit facilities to India. Vessels after vessel are arriving at the port, carrying heavy machinery and equipment for the power plant being set up at Palatana in Tripura. Two temporary depots have been constructed on leased land to store the machinery and equipment. Next to this the district administration has begun acquiring land to construct a yard with the capacity for 60 thousand containers. In the meantime, the Commerce Ministry's committee in Dhaka has completed work on the transit regulations and this now awaits approval.

An on-the-spot visit reveals that from March 9 till April 7 this year, so far five vessels have arrived at Ashuganj carrying heavy machinery and equipment for the power plant. Five massive 130-wheeler trailers have arrived from Tripura. ABC India Limited has the responsibility of transporting the Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC). About 17/18 labourers and officials of ABC are staying at Shafiqul Islam Bakul's house in Sonarampur. ABC has rented this two-storeyed house. On one side of the main road not far from the Ashuganj thana, Abul Kalam Azad, Merina Begum and Sherina Begum have rented out two plots of land for the temporary depots. The heavy machinery for the power plants and the trailers have been kept in these depots, surrounded by barbed wire.

It is learnt that in accordance to the agreement signed with ABC Limited, IL International Shipping Lines of India have hired four vessels of Bangladesh's Belayet Navigation. These four vessels carrying 960 tonnes of heavy machinery in 12 containers started off for Bangladesh from India's Khidirpur port. These anchored at Ashuganj from March 9 through March 22. The fifth vessel, Indian vessel Amrity, arrived on April 7. About 15 to 20ft of the land at the Masjid jetty of Ashuganj river port has been excavated to construct a sloping road for the trailers to ply with the ODC.

SK Jha, an official of the ABC company, says that with the required release papers from the district administration, the goods arriving in the first four vessels have already been taken via the Akhaura border to Palatana in Tripura. It will take at least seven more months for the remaining machinery to arrive in 81 vessels, says SK Jha.

The last consignment of machinery arriving in April have been stored in the depots. This includes a turbine weighing 260 tonnes and transformers weighing 70 tonnes and 80 tonnes respectively. ABC officials and labourers are working round the clock there. Two trailers have been joined together and the huge turbine has been mounted on that. ABC's vehicle engineer, Prasenjit Saruka of Kolkata, says, "Even though the last ODC was transported at night, this massive turbine is so heavy that it will definitely have to be transported during the day. This will take at least three days." According to Prasenjit, while these trailers are moving along the road, all other vehicular movement on that road will have to be stopped to avoid any accident. As the trailers will not be able to cross the border in just one day, parking facilities have been arranged at Sultanpur.

Local officials of BIWTA and NBR remain present while the containers are being unloaded. That is why both these organisations have set up temporary offices on the upper floor of the local Chistia Filling Station. As the government's decision is not to take any revenue for transit, what could the role of the revenue officer be? Brahmanbaria District Revenue Officer Humayun Kabir tells PROBE, The Indian officials seal the containers at Khidirpur. Then when the vessels enter Sheikhbaria of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh officials place a seal on those again. Then in Ashuganj our responsibility is tally the checklist to check if any of the containers have been mislaid on the way. Then in accordance to the Revenue Board's rules, we issue release papers from the district revenue office. . But there is no scope to see whether any other goods are being transported in the containers. There is no provision to scan the containers either."

The road from Ashuganj river port through Brahmanbaria, Sultanpur, Chenair, Akhaura and Senardi is 49 kilometres in length. The length of the bypass road from Sultanpur to Akhaura land port is 9.60 km. Momen Construction is doing the working on widening and renovating the road. Work is on at full speed. However, local people complain that about 500 trees have been felled for the purpose. Ashuganj NTV correspondent M Akhtaruzzaman also confirmed the felling of the trees.

Then there are about 15 small and large bridges and culverts along this 49 km stretch of road. As these are not adequate for the trailers to cross, for the time being these are being boosted with cement and sand bags over which heavy steel sheets are being placed. The local people feel that monsoon is on the way and these stopgap arrangements are going to clog up the rivers and canals, obstructing the natural water flow.

Whether or not the roads are fit for the transportation of the trailers, the ABC official SK Jha says, "There hasn't been any problem so far. If any problems crop up during the rains, we will look into it then." He did not want to talk any further on this head. His reasoning is that Gulf Orient is ABC's agent in Bangladesh so they can say anything that needs to be said so as to avoid any misunderstanding.

In order to implement the inter-country transshipment centre, three international standard terminal jetties, customs office, BIWTA office, container terminal, crane yard, warehouse, power sub-station, truck yard, rest house and a yard with capacity for 60 thousand containers will have to be set up at the Ashuganj port. In this regard the joint evaluation committee of the two countries are carrying out regular surveys along the banks of the river Meghna. In keeping with the, Ashuganj has been taken as the Port of Call.

It will require 50 acres of land to set up the transshipment centre. The district administration has already started the process of acquiring 32 acres of land at the village Charchartala near the Ashuganj fertiliser factory silos. On March 23 the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) of Ashuganj, Khalilur Rahman, inspected the area. Other than government land, land of the local residents near the river will also be acquired. During the on-the-spot visit, Giasuddin of the village Maharampara of Charchartala, said "Recently people of BIWTA and the Land Ministry came and measured the area. If the government really acquires the land, our family will suffer the most. He will lose about 20 acres of land." The land in question has several rice mills, the Maramia Darbar Sharif Mazar (shrine) and many houses. The khadem of the mazar Mofizul Islam says that they have been living here for the past 30 years. he hops that even if the land is acquired, the shrine won't be touched. The descendents of Khaleque Molla and Hasai Beprai of Maharampara also fear being evicted. There are other doubts too. Giasuddin came close and whispers his question, "Sir, is the government doing all this, or India?"

In the meantime, the transit regulations drawn up by the Commerce Ministry's committee formed for the purpose, were submitted to the ministry on April 6. Sources say that they government will give its final decision after discussing with the concerned countries. The regulations have given many points in favour of not taking any customs fee. In place of that, they speaks of taking payment for road repairs, compensation for accidents and for damage to the environment, etc. There will be no fee imposed on the vessels plying along the river-ways. The cost of transit infrastructure construction has been estimated at around 50 thousand crore taka.

It will be recalled that the transit issue was included in the joint declaration signed by the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India in January 2010. In keeping with that, Bangladesh has been implementing the work of giving transit facilities to India.

parvez1966@yahoo.com

http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=6996

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