Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed an India-Bangladesh deal for supply of 100 MW a day from the ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) station in Tripura, Dhaka has sought another 100 MW from the project.

India currently supplies 500 MW to Bangladesh through West Bengal. From Wednesday, this will go up to 600 MW.

In a recent communication to New Delhi, the Manik Sarkar-led Left Front government in Agartala said it would meet the additional demand from Dhaka. A decision, including the modalities of the deal, is pending with the Centre. Tripura has already agreed to give 100 MW from its own share in OTPC’s generation. Dhaka will pay 6.43 taka per unit (₹5.51) on ‘no-electricity, no-payment’ basis.

According to State government sources, there would be no problem in offering more electricity to Bangladesh as the commissioning of the 737 MW OTPC and a slew of smaller generation units had made Tripura hugely power surplus. The industrial demand is tepid.

Port connectivity More importantly, the State wants to cozy up to Bangladesh to solve its own locational and logistical disadvantages.

To reciprocate India’s cooperation on the energy front, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Seikh Hasina will on August 23 inaugurate a second internet link to the region. Tripura and the other North-East States suffer from unstable data connectivity.

Agartala is also looking for access to Chittagong port that can turn this gas-bearing State into an investment destination. “The Haldia port is over 2,300 km away, while Chittagong is only 186 km away,” a senior State official told BusinessLine.

While Dhaka has informally agreed to this, to complete the link, India needs to build a ₹100-crore bridge at Sabroom in South Tripura. According to State government sources, Delhi has agreed to bear the cost of the project.

Fuel through Bangladesh Meanwhile, Tripura has made frantic appeals to the Centre to move fuel and foodgrains via Bangladesh to prevent shortages in the State owing to the poor condition of the NH-44, the only highway that connects Agartala to Guwahati. The single-lane highway is in dismal condition especially the stretch in Assam.

“Huge craters abound on nearly 100 km, from Churaibari on Tripura border to Badarpur in Assam, leading to high turnaround time for fuel tankers,” said an oil industry official.

“A much better alternative is to move fuel to Tripura via Ashugunj river port in Bangladesh through barges,” he said. Last year, Food Corporation of India used the port to move foodgrains to Tripura.

Related Topics