Use Bangladesh ports to ferry goods to Northeast to save time and transport costs

Ferrying of goods from different parts of the country to Northeastern states using Bangladesh ports and roads will save time and transportation costs.

The President of Tripura Chambers of Commerce and Industry M.L. Debnath said that if the essentials, various goods and machinery were ferried from different parts of India to the mountainous north-eastern states using Bangladeshi ports and surface roads, it would save time and transportation costs.

The Tripura government had recently launched the trial run of goods transport using the Chittagong and Mongla ports of Bangladesh via Srimantapur Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Sonamura in Sepahijala district, 60 km from Agartala.

Cargo would be imported to Tripura via the Kolkata-Mongla-Bibirbazaar-Sonamura route once it is launched full-fledged, said officials.

Debnath said this on the issue of increase in prices of various commodities on the occasion of Lakshmi Puja.

Member of Indian Chamber of Commerce and India Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Tripura Chapter) and Secretary of All Tripura Merchants Association, Sujit Roy further added that transportation is a big issue in the mountainous areas. However, with the gradual extension of the railway line the transportation bottlenecks are being gradually easing in the region.

Tripura residents faced the brunt of heavy price rise on the eve of Lakshmi Puja on Sunday.

While many of the people were seen buying and taking the idols of Maa Lakshmi homes on Saturday, the rise in the prices of essentials in the puja markets visibly disappointed the commoners to some extent.

The prices of flowers, fruits, grains, vegetables, all materials for puja are unbridled. The price of idols has also increased this year compared to other years.

The raw material, idol artist’s wages have increased so much that the price of Lakshmi idol has increased a lot.

An idol artist commented that idols of five to six feet height were available at the price of Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 and at Rs. 2000.

However, the traders, who were selling the Lakshmi idols and puja essentials, were found to be happy with the footfalls and sale graph.

According to traders, price rise at source, transportation bottlenecks and inadequate storage facilities are the main causes of the rising prices of vegetables and other essentials in the state.

Roy cautioned that if the prices of essential and other goods increases at the source, it automatically hits the north-eastern state including Tripura.

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