IMPORTANCE OF PROTOCOL ON INLAND WATER TRADE & TRANSIT (PIWT&T) BETWEEN INDIA & BANGLADESH FOR NORTH-EAST REGION

 
1. Introduction: Prior to the partition of India in 1947, the trade and commerce of the NER (North-Eastern Region) with the rest of India used to pass through the territories of East Bengal, what is now Bangladesh. After the independence, rail and river transit across the erstwhile East Pakistan continued till 1965 with an agreement. But, consequence of the Indo-Pak war & subsequent war for liberation of Bangladesh, inland navigation to & through the country was suspended. On signing of the Protocol on Inland Water Transit & Trade (PIWT & T) on 1st November 1972 in pursuance of Article VIII of the Trade Agreement between Government of India and Bangladesh, the Inland navigation for Exim cargo between the countries and transit cargo from mainland to NER & vice versa, using the waterways of Bangladesh could be revived.  

2. Protocol Routes and Ports of call: -Initially four prominent routes (named as Indo-Bangladesh Protocol routes) on the major river system such as the river Yamuna (The Brahmaputra in Bangladesh), the Meghna the combined river system of Ganga (Padma) & Yamuna and Kushiyara (Barak river) were declared for navigation along with four ports in each country also named as Ports of call. These routes and ports facilitated the connectivity of Kolkata & Haldia with Narayanganj & Ashuganj in Bangladesh for bilateral trade, whereas the connectivity of Kolkata & Haldia with Dhubri and Karimganj in Assam facilitated in the movement of the transit cargo to NER.

3. Operators on IBP Routes: -The British owned Inland navigation companies such as M/s RSN (River Steam Navigation) Company and M/s IGNR (Indian General Navigation and Railway) company along with handful Indian companies were prominent for inland navigation prior to and after the participation of India till Indo-Pakistan war. Because of the impounding of the fleet of these companies in East Pakistan and subsequent financial constraint, Government of India incorporated CIWTC (central Inland Water Transport Company), a company in February 1967, taking over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile River Steam Navigation Company Ltd under a scheme approved by the Calcutta High Court. CIWTC, after the restoration of Inland navigation to and through Bangladesh, continued the operation till its decline during early twenty-first century and subsequent formal dissolution in 2016 by Government of India. 

4. Nodal Authorities: -CIWTC, since the signing of the protocol continued as the nodal authority in India till it was delegated to IWAI (Inland waterways Authority of India), the apex body for development, maintenance and management of the National waterways and promotion of IWT in India during 2006. However, BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland waterways Authority of India), the counterpart of IWAI in Bangladesh, is serving as the nodal authority for its administration since 1972. 

5. Renewal of protocol & length of routes: - Although the protocol was initially renewed every two years, subsequently, the renewal process done in a piecemeal manner, often only extending for months at a time. During its renewal on 6th June 2015 after the visit of Honorable PM Narendra Modi to Bangladesh, the validity increased to five years with the provision of auto-renewal after every five years. With 2nd addendum to the existing protocol on 20th May 2020 by declaring two new protocol routes 9 & 10, (Daudkandi- Sonamura-Daudkandi for 93 km) on the river Gumti and extension of existing protocol routes 5 & 6 from Rajshahi to Aricha on the river Padma up to its joining with the Yamuna, the strength of protocol routes has increased to 10(ten) having total length of 2654 km, out of which 1785 km is in Bangladesh and 869 km in India. There are also 10 ports of calls & two extended ports of call in each country (Fig-1). 

          
 Fig-1: Map of Protocol routes and Ports of call
 

 

 

 

6. Freight Movement: - From the details of the inter-country (bilateral) & transit cargo movement on the protocol routes from 2001 onward, there has been 18-fold increase in the freight movement. While export to Bangladesh has increased by 12%, the import from Bangladesh to India has increased only 7%. The inter-country (bilateral freight) movement during 2001-02 was 1.06 lakh MT and during 2020-21, it is recorded as 36.97 lakh MT. The transit freight movement during the same period is recorded to be less than 12,000MT with the necessity for looking in to the operational constraints and measures for development in exploiting its potential. Now, hardly half a dozen Indian operators are active in the business on the IBP routes, deploying approximately 4% of the fleet for movements of the bilateral and transit cargo. These Indian operators are engaged mainly for general and project cargo, and the ODC leaving the major commodities of 97% ie fly ash, stone chips & boulders to Bangladesh operators.
 

7. Strategic Importance of PIWT&T
From the Indian point of view, transit or transhipment across Bangladesh is important because it boost the economy of the NER and also providing the connectivity to other land locked neighboring countries like Bhutan & Nepal through BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India & Nepal) corridor & MV agreement (Fig-2). Bangladesh, because of its strategical location, has a critical role to play regional waterways connectivity. PIWT&T is also strategically importance for Bangladesh because of its flourishing economy with GDP at 6.01 in the financial year 2013-14, pushing it to 8.2 percent during 2019-20, rapid industrialization and increased bilateral trade & commerce with India.
Besides, the Siliguri Corridor known as “Chicken neck corridor” (Fig-3) being the only bridge between the eight North-Eastern States of India and the rest of the country having rail and road mode of transportation system, this narrow passage assumes strategically important and highly sensitive territory making defense as well a serious challenge. Hence, the protocol routes of Bangladesh have assumed the strategical importance for India in facilitating an alternative mode of passage
to NER.
   

                                                                              
  Fig-2: BBIN Corridors,  & 

 

 

Fig- 3:  Chicken neck corridor at Siliguri,

         
 

By S. Dandapat, Former Chief Engineer (Project & Marine), IWAI &
Sr. Consultant to Howe Engineering Project(I) Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad.
Email Id: Suvadandapat@gmail.com,
Mobile No: +919717622733