Agartala: Tripura has initiated the process and informed the Ministry of Power about pending bills of over Rs 100 crores that Bangladesh owes to the state.
In 2010, the Government of India and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (GoB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreeing to power trading between the two countries at mutually agreed prices and procedures.
According to the MoU, Tripura had been supplying 160 MW of power to the neighboring country until March 2021.
After the agreement expired on March 16, 2021, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh signed a supplementary agreement in Dhaka on December 2, 2021, when Jishnu Dev Varma was the Power Minister.
As per officials, the new agreement came into effect on March 17, 2021, and will be in force until March 16, 2026.
The modified terms and conditions of the agreement were finalized after four meetings between the stakeholders.
Though Bangladesh has already cleared some bills, they have yet to pay outstanding bills of over Rs 100 crores.
Speaking with Business North East, Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) Managing Director Debasish Sarkar said they have informed the Ministry about the issue and are continuously following up on the process.
“We have an agreement to sell 160 megawatts of power to Bangladesh. But due to Bangladesh's financial crisis over the last year, bills for over three months are pending, amounting to more than Rs 100 crores. We are following up on this process because TSECL is facing financial issues. As this is an international matter, we can't stop providing power. We have informed the higher authorities including the Ministry of Power,” he said.
He further informed that no assurance has come from Bangladesh, even after repeatedly informing them.
“They have only said they will look into it. We are talking at different levels, but no solution has emerged,” he told this publication.
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