Agartala, August 6 (TIWN): The first consignment of 10,000 MT rice from Kakinada of Andhra Pradesh reached Ashuganj port in Bangladesh Tuesday evening to be further transported through roadways till Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Tripura, official sources said. The consignment which contains 5,000 MT rice reached port Mongla on July 27.

A highly placed source inside the Department of Food and Civil Supplies said that the 5,000 MT foodgrain consignment would be now unloaded and re-loaded onto heavy duty trucks to be handed over to state government and Food Corporation of India (FCI) authorities at Akhaura.

While the state went rife with rumours of arrival of the first consignment of rice today, Akhaura Export-Import Association secretary Habul Biswas said no large consignment as 5,000 MT was being brought through the ICP today.

A source in the transport Transport Department said later this afternoon that authorities from Bangladesh have informed that it would take a minimum of 48 hours to start unloading of rice filled trucks at the Akhaura ICP in Tripura.

“They would need at least thirty trucks to finish the job. We are expecting the transportation to start after two days”, the transport official said.

Tripura usually exports dry fish, paper boards, scrap iron, banana, citrus fruits like lemon, orange and seasonal fruits like jackfruit, mangoes, spices etc. The import bulk from Bangladesh to the Indian territory through Tripura-Bangla frontiers mainly include small fish, Hilsa fish, stone chips, cement, food products, non-alcoholic beverages, cotton, aluminum profiles etc.

The state suffered an export deficit of Rs. 1.14 crore compared to the previous year in 2012-2013 with Bangladesh.

The average monthly requirement of foodgrains in the state is reported to be 30,000 MT now. With 10,000 MT transported through Bangladesh, the state government is learnt to be attempting at building a three months' buffer food stock by procuring additional foodgrains through rail and roadways before the mega block starts in October this year.

The second consignment of foodgrains is expected to start from the Andhra coast soon.