Bangladesh's attempt to import half a million tonnes of rice from neighbouring India to meet the its immediate post-cyclone needs has hit a snag, after New Delhi said that only the Indian government could make such exports.
"We hope Bangladesh will import the rice through the government channel, not from the private exporters," Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, said on Thursday. Bangladesh needs 1.7 millions of food grains, including its main staple rice, either from import or grants, by the end of June.
This is in the wake of Cyclone Sidr, which destroyed large tracts of crops in the South Asian Country last month. Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said this month, after visiting some cyclone-devastated areas, that his country would lift a ban temporarily to allow Banmport 500,000 tonnes of rice to help Dhaka deal with the disaster.
Chakravarty said the ban was still on for private Indian exporters. "However, Bangladesh can import the rice through government channels, which will be cost effective too," he said. "The government will not make any profit from the export and unlike the private exporters will only add transport cost to the price," Chakravarty said.