Tripura Is Getting Its Share Of Petroleum Products Through Bangladesh
India for the first time transported petroleum products through Bangladesh to Tripura. This venture is the first of its kind and will help better connectivity through the region.
India for the first time transported petroleum products through Bangladesh to Tripura.This comes in the wake of the deal signed between the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), a Public sector unit under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Government of India, and the Roads and Highways Department of the Government of Bangladesh (RHD).
The two were instrumental in aiding the transport of petroleum products from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh.
Tanker trucks were received at Kailashahar along the India-Bangladesh border at around 11 PM on Saturday (10th September). Tripura Industries and Commerce Minister Tapan Chakraborty and other state and central government officials were present at the location.
This was following a short term route agreement inked by Bangladesh to allow India to transport petroleum products from the northeastern state of Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh in the wake of floods that has drastically damaged Indian roads.
Because of the hilly terrain, transportation of petroleum products is not only cumbersome but also expensive.
Thus, the agreement was signed as a special arrangement to tide over the difficulties faced in carrying petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas through the national highways linking Tripura.
In the future too, this new route via Bangladesh would save time and costs in carrying petroleum products from Assam to Tripura as the existing over 400 km of mountainous route required more than 10 hours to carry these essential items.
There is only a narrow land corridor to the northeastern region through Assam and West Bengal that passes through hilly terrain with steep gradients and multiple hairpin bends, making transportation, especially of loaded trucks, very difficult.
The distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just 620 km.
A statement of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said that based on the request by Government of India, Bangladesh has granted permission for the movement of petroleum goods on humanitarian grounds through its territory.
Considering the condition of national highways in Meghalaya and southern Assam, IOCL Executive Director, Mr Dipankar Ray, added, "This move by IOCL not only paves the way for future logistic management but also exemplifies its commitment to be the energy accessibility of India in true sense."
Nine tank trucks carrying 108 kl of diesel and kerosene along with one LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) truck travelled from Betkutchi near Guwahati to Dawki, Meghalaya's border point with Bangladesh, and then on to Tamabil and Chatlapur in Bangladesh, eventually reaching Kailasahar and Dharmanagar in north Tripura.
The trucks reached the Dharmanagar IOCL depot on Saturday night after plying 136 km in Bangladesh.
Advantages of the MoU
The MoU will facilitate India to carry petroleum goods (Motor Spirit, High Speed Diesel, Superior Kerosene Oil and LPG) from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh to make a buffer stock in the northeastern state.
Earlier in 2012, Bangladesh had allowed state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to ferry heavy machinery, turbines and over-dimensional cargoes through Ashuganj port for the 726-MW Palatana mega power project in southern Tripura.
The Food Corp of India had also transported 2,350 tonnes of rice earlier this month from Kolkata to Tripura via Bangladesh.
The short-term deal is valid till September 30. ¡°Based on the request by the Government of India, the Bangladesh authorities have granted permission for the movement of petroleum goods on humanitarian grounds through the territory of Bangladesh till September 2016,¡± the High Commission of India said in a statement.
Assam - the hub of petroleum products
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, earlier this year, had spoken about how the ministry is trying to make Assam a hub of petroleum products for Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
He also elaborated how the ministry has planned to invest Rs 1,30,000 crore in the sector by 2030, out of which Rs 80,000 crore will be in Assam. Moreover, the ministry has already prepared a roadmap of investing Rs 6,000 crore in the state in the current financial year.
The minister further added that the planned investment includes capacity enhancement of the four refineries in the state including the Digboi refinery, the Guwahati refinery, the Bongaigaon refinery and the Numaligarh refinery.
Plans are on for enhancing the refining capacity of the four refineries to 16 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT). Their existing capacity is only seven MMT per year.
Winner of Food Blogger Awards 2015, Pranjali is an avid writer who likes to pen down most things that catch her fancy. She is an analytics graduate from IIM-Bangalore and when she is not crunching numbers as a banker, she is busy doing a food review or freelancing as a feature writer. If you have anything interesting to cover or write about, give her a holler at pranjali.bhonde@gmail.com or tweet her on @moipalate
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