Pilot movement of cargo on Gumti river from Daudkhandi in B'desh to Sonamura in Tripura on Sep 3

Dhaka [Bangladesh], Aug 25 : The first pilot movement on the 93 km stretch of Gumti river from Daudkhandi in Bangladesh to Sonamura in Tripura is expected to be conducted on September 3.
Bangladesh's Premier Cement company will be sending export cargo (break bulk cargo) of 50 MT of cement to Tripura.
The first pilot movement involves Bangladeshi Vessel M V Premier and customs formalities will be done at LCS Srimantapur - Bibirbazar. BIWTA gave its permission for the pilot run on August 24.
The operationalization of the new protocol route will greatly facilitate the bilateral trade, with improved reliability and cost effectiveness for the business community and the people of both the countries.
This is part of the Second Addendum on Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade that was signed by India and Bangladesh on May 20.
The regular export import cargo movement using inland waterways between Indian and Bangladesh has greater significance in the conditions created by COVID-19.
Connectivity provided by the existing and the newly added protocol routes will be instrumental in providing economical, faster, safer and greener mode of transport for traders and business communities of both the countries and will also have environmental benefits for the region.
The Protocol for Inland Water Trade & Transit (PIWT&T) was signed between India and Bangladesh in 1972 to provide inland waterways connectivity between the two countries for bilateral trade as well as to improve the connectivity to North East States of India through waterways
The scope of PIWT&T was further expanded by the signing of the second addendum to PIWT&T.
With the second addendum to PIWTT, two new protocol routes, five new ports of call and 2 extended ports of call have been added.
This takes the no of protocol routes to 10, ports of call to 11 , extended ports of call to two.
The second addendum was signed at Dhaka by Riva Ganguly Das, High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh and Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury, Secretary of Bangladesh Ministry of Shipping.
During discussions held in October 2018 in New Delhi and in December, 2019 in Dhaka, key decisions were taken on the extension of protocol rotes, inclusion of new routes, and declaration of new Ports of Call to facilitate trade between the two countries.
New locations have also been added to the existing routes like Sonamura- Daudkhandi stretch of Gumti river, Kolkata-Shilghat-Kolkata, Kolkata-Karimganj-Kolkata and Kolaghat.
Besides, Rajshahi-Dhulian-Rajshahi routes have been operationalised and they have been extended up to Aricha. This will help the augmentation of infrastructure in Bangladesh as it would reduce the transportation cost of stone chips/aggregate to northern part of Bangladesh through this route.
New Ports of Call have been on each side.
On the Indian side, there are five Ports of Call -- Dhulian, Maia, Kolaghat, Sonamura and Jogigopha and on Bangladesh side are: Rajshahi, Sultanganj, Chilmari, Daudkandi and Bahadurabad.
Further, two more extended Ports of Call - Tribeli ( Bandel) and Badarpur on Indian side and Ghorasal and Muktarpur on Bangladesh side - have been added through the latest addendum.