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Maitri Setu Bridge

Posted on March 8, 2021 by admin1  1082

In News: The Prime Minister will inaugurate ‘Maitri Setu’ between India and Bangladesh on 9th March 2021.

  • He will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple infrastructure projects in Tripura.

About ‘Maitri Setu’

  • The bridge ‘Maitri Setu’ has been built over the Feni river which flows between the Indian boundary in Tripura State and Bangladesh.
  • The name ‘Maitri Setu’ symbolizes growing bilateral relations and friendly ties between India and Bangladesh.
  • The construction was taken up by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd at a project cost of Rs. 133 Crores.
  • The 1.9 Km long bridge joins Sabroom in India with Ramgarh in Bangladesh.

Significance

  • It will give a boost to trade and people to people movement between India and Bangladesh.
  • With this inauguration, Tripura is set to become the ‘Gateway of North East’ with access to Chittagong Port of Bangladesh, which is just 80 kms from Sabroom.

Inauguration of other Projects

  • An Integrated Check Post at Sabroom
    •  The project is being taken up by the Land Ports Authority of India at an estimated cost of about Rs. 232 Crores.
    • It will help ease the movement of goods and passengers between the two countries, provide new market opportunities for products of North-East states and assist the seamless movement of passengers to and from India and Bangladesh.
  • NH 208
    • The 80 Km NH 208 project has been taken up by the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited with a project cost of Rs. 1078 Crores.
    • It will connect the Unakoti district headquarters at Kailashahar with the Khowai district headquarters.
    • It will provide an alternative route to the NH 44.
  • State Highways and other district roads
    • They will be developed by the State government with a financial outlay of Rs. 63.75 Crores. They will provide all-weather connectivity to the people of Tripura.
  • 40978 houses constructed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban)-
    • They are completed with the financial outlay of Rs. 813 Crores.
  • The Integrated Command and Control Centre built under Agartala Smart City Mission.
  •  Multi Level Car Parking and Commercial Complex at Old Motor Stand
    • It will be developed at an investment of about Rs 200 crore.

 Connectivity Projects between India-Bangladesh

  • Both countries have realised that connectivity is the key to their prosperity. For India, Bangladesh is crucial to enhance its reach towards its north-eastern states.
  • At the same time, Bangladesh needs to have a conducive relationship with the largest of its two neighbours (the other one being Myanmar).
  • Therefore, both countries have opened previously closed links and have worked on identifying new ones.
  • Bangladesh has also expressed interest in joining the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway project.
  • Train links: Railways is a fast and cheap mode of transport, compared to inland shipping and roadways respectively. Therefore, it is important to invest in the improvement of rail connectivity, in order to achieve better trade connectivity and synergy between commerce in the two countries.
  •  Apart from Chilahati-Haldibari, other rail links between India and Bangladesh are Petrapole (India) to Benapole (Bangladesh), Gede (India) to Darshana (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India) to Rohanpur (Bangladesh) and Radhikapur (India) to Birol (Bangladesh).
    • The Indo-Bangla railway connectivity project through Akhaura (Bangladesh) – Agartala (Tripura) would be completed by this March.
      • The 13 kilometres-long railway project would connect Bangladesh with India’s northeast and West Bengal through Nischintapur along the Indo-Bangla border to serve the purpose of trade and economic relations between the two countries.
  • Bus links: Roadways are important for faster connectivity and larger availability of choices for origins and destinations.
    • The recently started bus services — Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati — will link West Bengal to three North-Eastern states of India via Bangladesh capital Dhaka.
  • Chittagong Port-Bangladesh has made the Chittagong port available to India for transporting goods to the north-eastern states of India.
    •  This will be a huge factor in the economic progress of the Indian territory of the north-east, by slashing both time and distance required to transport goods.

About Feni River-

  • The Feni River, which forms part of the India-Bangladesh border, originates in the South Tripura district.
  • It passes through Sabroom town on the Indian side, and meets the Bay of Bengal after it flows into Bangladesh.

North East Region

  • The North Eastern Region is ideal for both passive and adventure forms of Ecotourism with wildlife sanctuary/parks, good scenic beauty, waterfalls, forests etc.
  • The region has many famous and old religious spots, which have been integrated with national tourism circuits.
  • In view of the attractive natural environment and growing trends of outbound business meets, the NER also offers ample opportunities for the business tourism segment.
  • Heritage tourism has picked up considerably in the Region with a participatory approach.
  • The North East will play an important role in India’s Act East Policy.
  • The region is home to a large number of ethnic communities and diverse tribal groups having unique dialects and traditions.
  • Northeast states are increasingly gaining a significant strategic value.
  • With ASEAN engagement becoming a central pillar of India’s foreign policy direction, these states play an important role as the physical bridge between India and Southeast Asia.

Seven Sisters of Northeast India

  • The ‘seven sisters’ of Northeast India comprise Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
  • Sikkim is also a part of the Northeast but is not included in the Seven Sisters because while the other seven states are contiguous, Sikkim is sort of a neighbour, divided by the Siliguri Corridor.
  • Sikkim is also referred to as the ‘Brother’ of the Seven Sisters.

What is the Siliguri Corridor?

  • India’s North East is geographically isolated from the rest of India and is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land called the Siliguri Corridor also known as Chicken’s Neck.
  •  It is about 200 km long and 60 km wide. At its narrowest, it is just 17 km wide.
  • The corridor extends from the Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Terai areas of West Bengal towards the North East.
  • The region is important for trade, commerce and tourism for West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
  • All land trade between the North East and the rest of the country happens through this corridor.

Source :AIR

 
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