Implication on the Northeast from Bangladesh offer of services at Chittagong Port

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated16/05/2022

Bangladesh PM offered India to use the Chittagong Port during a meeting
She said the port would be of benefit to India’s northeastern States, particularly Assam and Tripura.
The two other northeastern States bordering Bangladesh-Meghalaya and Mizoram could also benefit from access to the port.

Pre independence: India’s Northeast had easy access to the seaports, specifically Chittagong, in present-day Bangladesh via the Brahmaputra and Barak River systems before independence.
During Partition: it did not immediately affect the transportation of tea, timber, coal and oil through these rivers and local-level border trade, helping maintain undivided Assam’s status as the State with the highest per capita income till the early 1950s.
But the volume of trade began dipping with the souring of ties between India and Pakistan. * Bangladesh was East Pakistan then before the 1965 war cut the Northeast off.
The movement of goods through the ‘chicken’s neck’, a narrow strip in West Bengal, became a costlier alternative for the region after access to the river and land routes through East Pakistan was denied.

The creation of Bangladesh with India’s help in 1971 did not translate into the revival of the traditional river and land trade and communication routes for the Northeast.
A degree of mistrust between the two countries, primarily because of the ‘Bangladeshi’ issue and camps established by myriad Northeast extremist groups in Bangladesh, did not help matters.
Both countries did not look at trade and commerce opportunities more closely.
Change in scenario after new regime: it began to change when Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government took charge in 2009 and the mistrust lessened after the dispute-ending land boundary agreement was signed in 2015.
The two countries undertook efforts to improve capacity across waterways, roads and railroads.
From a bus service between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka to the movement of cargo on barges, trial runs and trans-shipments have been successfully conducted.

The Northeast has been the key to the increase in bilateral engagements between India and Bangladesh in the last five years.
India’s ‘Act East’ policy that focuses on the region and a new sense of cooperation between the two countries can help the Northeast, specifically four States, explore the potential of economic activities optimally.
These States Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram share a 1,879 km border with Bangladesh.
Revival of pre- partition trade routes: with a special focus on railways and waterways, many of the pre-Partition trade routes are being revived.
Most of these roads lead to Chittagong port, which has historically been the largest and the most convenient for trade and commerce for the region.

India has been working on infrastructure on either side of the border.
Maitri setu: In March 2021, the Prime Ministers of the two countries inaugurated the Maitri Setu, a bridge built over the Feni River, which has reduced the distance between Sabroom in southern Tripura and the Chittagong port to just 111 km.
Multi modal transit hub: The government is working on a multi-modal transit hub at Sabroom inclusive of road and rail connectivity that can help goods reach the Chittagong port in a few hours.
Road connectivity: in Meghalaya’s Dawki, southern Assam’s Sutarkandi and Tripura’s Akhaura linking eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh is also being improved.
Apart from the India-Bangladesh Protocol Route involving the Brahmaputra, cargo ships from Bangladesh have reached Tripura through the Gomati River and Assam’s Karimganj via the Kushiara River.

Prelims Takeaway

Mains Track

Q Discuss about importance of connectivity between the Northeast and Bangladesh via Chittagong Port.