B’desh to get 500MW more power from India

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Tripura counterpart Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday jointly inaugurated a 500 MW additional power supply line to the neighbouring country and two key railway projects via video conference.

The 500 MW additional power supply from India to Bangladesh will be through the existing Bheramara ( Bangladesh) - Baharampur ( West Bengal, India) interconnection.

Currently, I ndia exports 660MW of power to Bangladesh, 500MW of which are transferred through the BaharampurBheramara connection and 160MW through Tripura to the Cumilla power grid. The two prime ministers also inaugurated construction work on the Bangladesh side of the AkhauraAgartala rail line project. The 972-crore ,15-km rail link, financed by the Ministry of Development of North-eastern Region (DONER) is a vital link for passenger and cargo movement between the two countries.

The third project is the repair works on the Kulaura-shahbazpur section of Bangladesh Railways. Modi recalled his recent meetings Hasina several times in the recent past, including at the BIMSTEC meeting in Kathmandu, in Shanti Niketan, and during the Commonwealth Summit in London. He said that that leaders of neighbouring countries should have a relationship like neighbours, talking and visiting frequently, without getting bogged down by protocol.