Bangladesh gets 16,000 tonnes of rice from India despite tensions

Notwithstanding the tense relations between India and Bangladesh ever since the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year, a second consignment of rice from India arrived at Mongla Port on Saturday, a media report said.

Two ships carrying 16,400 tonnes of rice arrived at the port in the morning, The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

Bangladesh is set to receive 300,000 tonnes of rice from India under an agreement, with 40 per cent of it being unloaded at Mongla Port and the rest at Chittagong Port, according to the Mongla Food Controller's Office.

The Panama-flagged vessel BMC Alpha arrived from Odisha's Dhamra Port carrying 7,700 tonnes of rice while the Thailand-flagged MV Sea Forest arrived from Kolkata Port with 8,700 tonnes.

The first consignment under this open tender import from India arrived on January 20, when the Vietnam-flagged vessel MV Puthan-36 brought 5,700 tonnes of rice, according to the report.

A few days ago, Bangladesh's interim government said that it would seek to scrap some uneven agreements on borders with India during the meeting of the directors general of the border guards of the two countries in February.

Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel laureate, assumed the role of Bangladesh's Chief Adviser in August last year after then prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country.

Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League's (AL) 16-year regime.

Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Last year, Dhaka sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi seeking the extradition of Hasina.