Trial run of Kolkata-Agartala road cargo via Dhaka begins

Months before operationalising the four-nation motor vehicles agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) in January 2016, India flagged off a trial run of road cargo through Bangladesh.

DHL Global Forwarding will carry a consignment of footwear from Kolkata to Agartala through Dhaka. A part of the cargo will be unloaded in Dhaka.

According to Vijay Chhibber, Secretary, Union Road Transport and Highways, this will reduce the road length, from the existing 1,550 km through the chicken’s neck, by less than half to 640 km.

“Imagine the time and cost savings that will happen with the BBIN agreement in place,” he said.

Chhibber along with Principal Secretary of the West Bengal Transport Department, Alapan Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Samar Nath, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding, flagged off the cargo from the State secretariat at Nabanna.

To allow seamless movement of goods and passengers through each other’s territories and ensure better regional connectivity, India proposed a motor vehicles agreement for the eight SAARC nations.

While the SAARC initiative remained unsuccessful (mainly due to opposition from Pakistan), BBIN inked a pact in June 2015.

India already had bilateral agreements with Bhutan and Nepal for free movement of vehicles. The four-nation treaty will allow India to travel through Bangladesh and vice-versa.

As an immediate impact, the treaty will end the remoteness of the north-eastern region that will now be accessed through Bangladesh. It will also encourage Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan to scale up trade through India.

India is already improving immigration, transit and road infrastructure to encourage Bangladesh-Nepal and Bangladesh-Bhutan trade.

According to Chhibber, the pilot run would help the BBIN nations finalise the protocols to the agreement. “The protocol will be signed shortly at Siliguri,” he said.

Samar Nath said the pilot cargo vehicle will be tracked online. Every time the container door opens, alerts will be sent to the control room automatically.

The trial run will map the infrastructure and procedural inadequacies to be ironed out to make the agreement a success.

A detailed report will be submitted to the Centre in a week. DHL has also been selected for trial run for seamless movement to Bhutan.

Meanwhile, the Centre is hopeful of flagging off a trial run for seamless movement of cargo through the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway, by December.

Chhibber added that the protocol to a trilateral agreement in this regard is yet to be inked.

“There are some delays in signing the protocols with elections scheduled in Myanmar. Hopefully, the trial runs will begin by early December,” he said, adding that a formal agreement may be signed in March-April 2016.

Once operational, this will help promote road movement of cargo between India and Bangladesh through Myanmar.

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