AGARTALA, August 19 (TIWN): 2100 MT rice out of the 5000 MT foodgrain consignment scheduled to reach the state as a part of induction from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) reached FCI godowns in the state by Tuesday, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Bhanulal Saha said.

The minister today said that the FCI was requested to regularize the foodgrain transportation using the riverine transport system of Bangladesh till the gauge conversion work of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in the Lumding-Agartala route was completed.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is currently known to be working on the issue. A letter was reportedly sent from the ministry to the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh following continued pursuits from the state government.

“We haven’t got any official confirmation yet. But we have requested the FCI to ensure us 90 days buffer stock of rice by October 01 when the NFR authorities would stall all rail service in the region. An additional benefit of alternative transportation through Bangladesh would be most beneficial since the proposed NH 54 couldn’t be operationalized before the gauge conversion work as previous assured by the centre”, Saha said.

The state is currently inducting 10,000 MT of foodgrains through Asuganj port of Bangladesh as an experimental initiative for alternative transport route for the NER states. The first consignment of 5,000 took exactly a month to reach Asuganj from Vizag in Andhra Pradesh where it started on July 03 earlier this year.