PM Modi terms occasion as historic
Our Correspondent
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar jointly inaugurated India-Bangladesh Power Grid Transmission line through a video-conference today.
With this venture India will give 100 megawatts power to Bangladesh from the gas-based power plant at Palatana in Tripura and will get 10 GBPS internet bandwidth from Bangladesh.
Inaugurating the plant Mr. Modi termed it as a historic occasion saying it opens India’s digital gateway to the ‘East’. On the occasion Prime Minister said India and Bangladesh are setting an example for relations between neighbours. He also said that India and Bangladesh now share ties not just on land and water but now on digital world. This now needs to be expanded in the sphere of space cooperation.
Prime Minister also said it will be beneficial for the youth of North East particularly from Assam, Tripura and Sikkim. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar lauded efforts by both the countries.
Earlier, the Prime Minister inaugurated broadband connectivity to North-East states via Bangladesh to strengthen telecom services in the region. Under the project, an international gateway for broadband connectivity will be set up at Agartala in which connectivity will be provided through Bangladesh under an agreement between state-run BSNL and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company limited. Prior to this, telecom connectivity for networks was provided to North East from Chennai via Kolkata. The cost of the project is around 19 crore rupees and BSNL will bear annual operational expenditure of around seven crore rupees from its own resources.
The agreement was signed between India and Bangladesh for this project at Dhaka in June last year during Prime Minister’s visit to that country.