“The discussions concerning the issues of Tripura between the Prime Ministers of the two countries were very positive and brought a new message for development of the state,” Sarkar, who attended the banquet hosted by Prime Minister Mamohan Singh in honour of Hasina on Monday, told reporters here last night.
Sarkar, one of the four chief ministers of the Northeast invited to the banquet, said they were not participants in the discussions but were privy to the proceedings.
“The two governments have agreed that Ashuganj river port and Mongla and Chittagong (sea) ports in Bangladesh will be open to use by India and Akhaura in Bangladesh and our state capital Agartala will be linked by rail. This is a major gain for us,” he added.
Besides the 14-km Agartala-Akhaura railway track, border haats will be constructed on both sides of the border to facilitate border trade.
“I had informal talks with the Bangladesh Prime Minister on the sidelines of the state banquet and she recalled how Tripura had extended full support to the liberation struggle of Bangladesh in 1971 as the second war front.
She also agreed to visit Tripura at a time convenient to her when I invited her,” Sarkar said.
The chief minister said prior to the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s visit to New Delhi, the Tripura government had addressed a “detailed letter” to Singh, describing the issues that needed to be discussed and settled in the interest of Tripura.
The issues are likely to be resolved soon, he added.
“We are happy that issues concerning Tripura have been discussed and a positive outcome has been achieved. We are also greatly heartened by the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s open and unambiguous commitment that she will not allow Bangladesh soil to be used by anti-Indian militants,” he said.
Sarkar also had an informal discussion on Reang refugees with his Mizoram counterpart, Lalthanhawala, on the sidelines of the banquet.
He said the Mizoram chief minister was ready to ensure early repatriation of the refugees.
“He told me that he had a discussion with a group of refugee leaders during his recent three-day visit to the state and assured (me) that the groundwork was being done to facilitate early repatriation.”
Lalthanhawala also agreed to a joint visit by representatives of the refugees, the Tripura government and the media to survey the rehabilitation sites and expressed hope that all the refugees would be repatriated soon, Sarkar said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment