The Centre has taken up with the Bangladesh government on the issue of approval of a new waterway between Tripura and Cumilla in the eastern part of that country. Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya in a letter to the Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said that after taking a view on the recommendations of the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of India and Bangladesh, his ministry had, through India’s High Commissioner in Dhaka, requested the Bangladesh Government to accord in-principal approval for inclusion of the Sonamura (Tripura, India)-Daudkandi (Bangladesh) stretch of the Gomati river as part of the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (water) route.

“After getting confirmation from Bangladesh, the Sonamura-Daudkandi (in Cumilla district of eastern Bangladesh) stretch would be included as part of the India-Bangladesh Protocol Route in the second addendum to PIWTT (Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade) to be signed in the next Shipping Secretary level talks between the two countries,” the Union Minister said.

In his letter, a copy of which is available with IANS, Mandaviya told Deb that the movement of vessels on river Gomati between India and Bangladesh for providing waterway connectivity to Tripura would be permissible only after inclusion of the Sonamura-Daudkandi stretch as part of the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route.