AGARTALA, June 2 (TIWN): Another 4000 metric tonnes of rice ferried to Tripura via Bangladesh on June 2 this week as train services have been stopped in the southern part of the northeast region of India due to gauge conversion.

A total of 13 trucks arrived here at Akhaura Check post carrying 440 sacks of rice, each sacks consisted of 50 kg of rice. The rice sacks were transported directly from Bangladesh Ashuganj Port.

The rice has been ferried to Agartala Nandanagar FCI go-down. The Tripura government has urged the central government to carry rice for the state regularly via Bangladesh till the railway's gauge conversion works are completed.

The FCI last year ferried 10,000 tonnes of rice in two phases to Tripura from Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh via Bangladesh.

Several ships carried the rice from Visakhapatnam port to Kolkata port, then to Ashuganj port in (eastern) Bangladesh. From Ashuganj port, Bangladeshi trucks ferried the rice to FCI warehouses in Nandannagar near Agartala.

Ashuganj port over the Meghna river in eastern Bangladesh is 57 km from Tripura capital Agartala.

Following diplomatic parleys, the Bangladesh government agreed to allow transportation of food grains for Tripura across its territory without charging any duty under a special transit facility.