Tripura has agreed to supply an additional 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh, over the 100 MW of power the northeastern state is supplying to the neighbouring country, a minister said here on Saturday.
“The Bangladesh Government has sought more electricity from India to tackle its power crisis in the eastern part of the country. India’s Power Ministry wanted to know whether the Tripura government is ready to provide additional 100 MW of power to Bangladesh,” Tripura’s Power and Transport Minister Manik Dey told.
“The Tripura government has already informed the union Power Ministry that the state government has no problem to supply 100 MW more of electricity to Bangladesh provided that ONGC must ensure the supply of gas to the 101 MW-capacity power plant at Monarchak,” he added.
A 47-km double circuit transmission line has been erected, linking the power grid at Surjyamaninagar in western Tripura to the Comilla power grid in Bangladesh, to supply electricity to the neighbouring country.
The 100 MW electricity being supplied to Bangladesh by Tripura from March 23 is in addition to the 500 MW Bangladesh is already receiving from India’s West Bengal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, along with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on March 23, launched through video-conferencing from their respective offices in New Delhi, Dhaka and Agartala, the supply of 100 MW of power to Bangladesh and also the third international internet gateway (IIG) in Agartala.