AGARTALA, June 17 - Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has urged Union Minister for Commerce and Industries Piyush Goyal to take up the issue of trade restrictions on 27 Indian items with Dhaka immediately.
If the trade restriction is lifted, then the 27 items could be exported to Bangladesh through Land Customs Stations (LCSs), the Chief Minister told the Union Minister at a meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. As present, trade barrier on eight Indian items have been lifted after hectic parleys with Dhaka.
Deb also took up with Goyal another key issue of restriction on Bangladeshi investment in Tripura. �Of late, Bangladesh Government has been providing special permission to its citizens to invest in India but Tripura has been denied of getting such investment. This issue must be taken up with Dhaka as it is important for a State like Tripura which is surrounded by Bangladesh on three sides�, he explained to the Union Minister.
In another meeting with Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh L Mandaviya, the Chief Minister discussed Indo-Bangla inland waterway project connecting Tripura�s Howrah river with Meghna in Bangladesh.
Deb demanded declaration of River Howarh as protocol route to expedite the 18-km proposed waterway. If it is not done, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will not be able to undertake dredging work from Sonamura of Tripura to Dawokandi in Bangladesh.
The Chief Minister also called on Union Minister for Textile Smriti Irani Zubin and put forward some demands. She assured of giving all
possible help to the State Government.
On Monday, the Chief Minister called on Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in their office.
