Ramesh said that it had offered large packages to Bangladesh but Dhaka’s lack
of providing transit for Northeast-bound cargo scuttled these measures. India
has been requesting Bangladesh to allow double-entry visa for individuals and
rail and road transit for goods to ease movement between the Northeast and the
rest of the country. India had also proposed that the Chittagong port be
developed as the gateway to the northeastern states.
The nearest available ports for the seven northeastern states are Calcutta and
Haldia which would mean long truck rides through difficult hilly terrain. One
of the major obstacles for the economic development of the Northeast is the
lack of access. Sittwe gives the region the necessary access from Calcutta,
Visakhapatanam, or Chennai.
India also wants to acquire two offshore blocks in Myanmar to access natural
gas and transit it through a pipeline to the Northeast but the project has been
delayed because Bangladesh, through which the proposed pipeline must pass, has
raised obstacles. New Delhi is now working on alternative arrangements.
India is also aware of the precariousness of the situation and is working
urgently as China has already proposed a plan to lay a pipeline Sittwe to
Kunmin, the capital of China’s Yunnan province.
Saran’s visit to Myanmar builds on President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s visit to
that country in March this year.
