Uneasy moves mar Indian transit
Quite a lot of unexplaineddevelopments are taking place involving
transit to India using Ashugonj river portand Akhaura land customs
en-route to Agartala in the Indian state of Tripura.
Nobody knows and none is speakingout what is the real status of the
movement of Indian cargoes at this momentusing Bangladesh territory to
its northeastern region. One segment of thegovernment says they are
running transit on trial basis while others sayregular transit has
already begun over a week ago.
Nobody knows when the trialtransit has ended. There was no official
statement on the development and nogazette notification informing the
public on the present status of the transit.
Meanwhile, business leaders havestarted decrying the impact of free
transit of Indian goods to its northeasternstates saying it poses a
direct threat to their locally manufactured goods andexports,
especially to the seven northeastern states of India.
Leaders of three re-rolling andsteel mills associations Monday
demanded immediate halt of the duty free movementof Indian steel and
iron materials to the northeastern region of India statingthat it is
destabilizing their industry and exports.
They said they have set up there-rolling and steel industries at a
huge cost and they are now facing directthreat from Indian business.
They urged the government to impose transit feesand other duties on
the Indian goods to ensure a level playing field.Otherwise, local
industry will be totally ruined, they said.
Moreover they have demanded dutyfree access of their steel and iron
rods to the Indian markets, especially tothe northeast saying the
large scale Indian big business houses which produceat low cost should
not enjoy extra support in terms of subsidized transportationof their
raw materials.
Cement producers are also worriedabout the future of their industry.
President of Bangladesh AutoRe-rolling and Steel Mills Association
Sheikh Masudul Alam Masud spokeyesterday about their plight. He said
Indian producers are now shipping ironingots, billets and such other
raw materials from Kolkata to produceconstruction materials in the
northeastern region which was dependent on importfrom Bangladesh so
long. The government should protect itsown industry and save its own
business first before helping others, he said. On transit front,
Shipping ministry officials said they are not aware of that
India is running transit now onregular basis. But it is evident from
the government instructions to Akhauracustoms officials that they
should allow Indian trucks to enter into Bangladeshto take the cargo
goods to Tripura.
It will essentially requireagreements between the two countries; the
shipping ministry official told themedia.
But he said he has no knowledgeabout such agreement. But what is
visible is that Bangladeshi truckers are nowcarrying Indian goods from
Ashugonj river port to Akhaura and Indian truckersare taking them from
there to inside Tripura.
Initially Bangladeshi truckscarrying foods inside Tripura but in final
arrangement, India did not agree toallow Bangladeshi truckers to carry
their goods to Agortala and even insideIndian border.
But there is none to explain whyBangladeshi truckers can't enter into
Indian territory and why the Indian truckerscan come to Akhaura to
pick up merchandise.
The Shipping ministry officialsaid an inter-ministerial meeting will
evaluate on the basis of results fromtransit on trial basis whether it
will bring good results or the country willstand to lose from it.
The government may take decisionon transit fees and other charges in
the light of the evaluation report, hesaid. He was unable to comment
on whether transit is running now on regularbasis.
http://thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=21281
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