Altogether 96 units of heavy equipment are scheduled to be sent from West Bengal to Tripura’s Palatana, where a 726 megawatt power station is being built, through Bangladesh territory. The cargo will be taken from West Bengal to Ashuganj by river and from there to Akhaura in Tripura by road in Bangladesh. Part of the power generated from Palatana will be supplied to power-deficit Bangladesh.

Some estimates suggest that Bangladesh can easily earn between Rs 600 to 800 crore annually by way of fess and other charges. This should certainly help its economy. Also, the use of facilities at Chalna and Mongla ports should help in utilizing idle productive capacity. India will benefit by avoiding the long road detour of over 2200 kilometres through Northeast states, to send cargo and goods to its own territory. The savings in terms of precious fuel and time should be major gains.

Despite the paranoid anti-Indian stand taken by the Bangladesh Nationalist party over the transit and transshipment issue, the trend in the movement of goods though Bangladesh territory from India has been encouraging, as basic economic interests in both countries prevailed over political obsessions. During 2001-02, only 47,858 tonnes of cargo moved through Bangladesh, but by 2009-10, it rose to 12,77,446 tonnes. Following progress in t talks over transit, India paid Bangladesh Rs 2 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 4.5 crore a year later, as volume rose slightly, as token entry fee regardless of volume. BNP sources alleged that India might be transporting arms and weapons to deal with insurgents in the northeast. The heavy movement of goods also would cause serious damage to Bangladesh roads and the entry and exit of Indian nationals would pose security problems. This type of thinking, which extended even to the construction of the proposed Trans Asian high link between the two countries, stalled progress effectively for years.

Interestingly, Bangladesh did not hesitate to sigh transit and transshipment treaties with Bhutan (1980) and Nepal (1976), while refusing to do so with its biggest neighbour.

A section of Bangladesh experts thinks that their country could easily earn revenues of over 2 billion dollars if the movement of goods is encouraging. However, this presupposes the effective use of existing port facilities and the optimum use of existing facilities. Other sources are more cautious about hazarding such estimates. A study conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Defence studies concluded that their country should have earned around 430 million US dollars by allowing transit rights, instead of securing an income of 43 million only from India, whereas Nepal and Sri Lanka earned respectively 76 and 358 million dollars during 2003-07.

Clearly, such calculations and the need for economic development have eventually tiled the scale in favour of an understanding with India, overriding the BNP’s paranoia.

On its part, India has allowed provisions for the examination and checking of cargo sent from it at any point or time en route in Bangladesh. It has never adopted hot pursuit tactics in response to raids from camps of insurgents from the Northeast known to be sheltering in Bangladesh. And it will help improve existing road ways and port facilities, much of its at its own cost, to assuage Bangladeshi feelings. (IPA Service)