80 vehicles to move Indian oil thru Bangladesh daily

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) will be allowed to ply 80 vehicles daily for transporting fuel from Meghalaya to Tripura through Bangladesh -- including entrance and exit. 

The Indian state-run company has to pay a charge of Tk 1.85 per tonne per kilometre of Bangladesh's roads. This arrangement started yesterday, and the company will get this facility till November 30 this year.

These are the major provisions of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) signed with IOCL yesterday, to transport fuel through Bangladesh, said participants of the MoU's signing ceremony.

Abdullah Al Mamun, additional chief engineer (technical services wing) of RHD, and IOCL Country Director Mazher Alam signed the MoU at the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD).

Asked when transportation will start, ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, secretary of the division, who was at the ceremony, said it may take some more time, as they will have to complete some procedures centring vehicles and drivers.

Representatives from Indian High Commission in Dhaka, foreign ministry, commerce ministry, home ministry, police and National Board of Revenue were present at the time.

Bangladesh agreed to give the facility following the request of its neighbouring country, as the local rail network has been snapped due to massive landslides in Assam, officials said.

As per the plan, IOCL will send its convoys of fuel to Bangladesh via Dawki (in Meghalaya)-Tamabil (in Sylhet) border, said an RHD official. Then the vehicles will enter Kailashahar in Tripura via Chatlapur check-post in Moulvibazar.

Indian High Commission in Dhaka requested Bangladesh for allowing a part of its road network to transport fuel to Tripura after floods severed India's relevant network.

Upon receiving the request, RTHD sought to know technical issues from RHD, which did not object if the fuel-laden vehicles followed the axle-load limit.

RHD, following a similar MoU signed in 2016, prepared a draft MoU, which was sent to the foreign ministry via RTHD. Upon receiving a no-objection certificate from the ministry, the commerce ministry also held an inter-ministerial meeting to finalise the MoU, sources said.

Then foreign ministry informed the Indian High Commission about the conditions of the MoU, which it agreed to, they added.

As per the MoU, the highest axle load of each vehicle would be 10 tonnes. They will provide documents related to vehicles and drivers, and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will endorse those.

The vehicles will be operated at daytime and will pay the administrative fee, charges and other fees following the existing rules of Bangladesh.

The Indian news agency PTI said after the only rail link connecting Assam's Dima Hasao and Barak Valley, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura to the rest of the country was washed away in May, the company started moving all its supplies by road via Meghalaya, bearing more than double the cost.

According to the PTI report, IOCL was initially planning to move 1,400 kilolitres of fuel via Bangladesh at a total transportation cost of Rs 57.78 lakh, as opposed to Rs 34.22 lakh for its own rail route.