Banglabandha
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Banglabandha (also spelled ''Banglabandh'') is a major
inland port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers pub ...
in northern Bangladesh established to provide a trade link with
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
and
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
. The three nations are separated by of Indian territory, known as the
Siliguri Corridor The Siliguri Corridor, also known as the Chicken's Neck, is a stretch of land around the city of Siliguri in West Bengal, India. at the narrowest section, this geo-political and geo-economical corridor connects the eight states of northeast I ...
. On the Indian side of the border is Phulbari. Border crossing of vehicles between Phulbari and Banglabandha was inaugurated in January 2011.


History

Despite the geographical proximity of the borders of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, the issues of border control and territorial
sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
have obviously prevented the establishment of direct trade routes. Banglabandha was functioning as a "Land Customs Station" (LCS) before the
Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Co ...
decided to establish an inland port. To exploit the potential of a three-way trading post, the government of Bangladesh decided to develop an inland port, with facilities such as customs, banking, warehouses, police and immigration posts. It was designed to be Bangladesh's first "export-oriented" inland port, explicitly promoting the transport of Bangladeshi goods to Nepal, India and Bhutan; other Bangladeshi inland ports are mainly used to import goods from India. Nepal favours such an inland port to enable access for its goods to the Mongla and Chittagong seaports.


Geography

The Banglabandha land port is located at the tip of northwestern Bangladesh at . It is north of the
Panchagarh Panchagarh (; bn, পঞ্চগড়, 'five forts') is a district of the Rangpur division in Northern Bangladesh. Panchagarh is the northernmost district of Bangladesh. It lies between 26º00' and 26º38' north latitudes and between 88º19' ...
town and from
Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian state of West Bengal. Known as the ' ...
and Jalpaiguri, in the Indian state of
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
. The Indian city of
Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal ...
is away to the north. Kankarbhitta, the India-Nepal border transit point for third countries, is away and the India-Bhutan border is away from the Indo-Bangladesh boundary near which Banglabandha stands.


Function

The Banglabandha port was formally inaugurated in May 2004 but has not been fully functional owing to the absence of a transit agreement for the use of Indian territory as a transport route for Bangladeshi, Nepalese and Bhutanese trade cargoes. Nepali transport trucks are not allowed entry into Bangladesh and must exchange their cargo at the "zero point" of the Indo-Bangladesh border. Indian authorities also limit transport from Nepal to Bangladesh to only two hours a day. India has been blamed for preventing development of South Asian road connectivity. India fears China gaining access to Bangladesh and into the Bay of Bengal. As such the benefits of decades long Bangladesh initiatives to promote regional trade remains stillborn. The existing Indo-Nepalese agreement provides for cross-border transport between the two countries, but no arrangement for use of Indian territory to link Nepal and Bangladesh. But in 2010, a joint communique issued by the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina Wajed Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since January 2 ...
said both countries would co-operate to provide Nepalese and Bhutanese cargo access to the Bangladesh ports. The commerce secretaries of Nepal and Bangladesh also held high-level talks to form an agreement resolving the transit issues between the two countries.


Border crossing for vehicles

Border crossing of vehicles between Phulbari and Banglabandha was inaugurated in January 2011. Earlier, Nepal-Bangladesh transit through the border started in a limited way in 1997. Goods-laden trucks from both sides cross the border and unload the goods at warehouses in the other country. There is no arrangement for the crossing of human beings. Bangladesh started export of fertiliser to Nepal using the Rahanpur- Singhabad rail transit point in November 2011. As per Addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding between Bangladesh and India to facilitate overland transit traffic between Bangladesh and Nepal signed on 6 September 2011, "The existing rail route through
Radhikapur Railway station Radhikapur railway station is a station serving Radhikapur in the Uttar Dinajpur district, West Bengal, India. It is an active rail transit system on the Bangladesh–India border. It is an India–Bangladesh land border checkpoint and has a l ...
in India and Biral Railway Station in Bangladesh which has been suspended shall be brought into operation by converting Bangladesh portion into broad gauge."


References

{{India-Bangladesh land border checkpoints Bangladesh–India border South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Bangladesh–India border crossings Road transport in Bangladesh