Banglabandha

Location

The Banglabandha land port is located at the tip of northwestern Bangladesh. It is 57 km (35 mi) north of the Panchagarh District and 7 km (4.3 mi) from Siliguri and Jalpaiguri, in the Indian state of West Bengal. The Indian city of Darjeeling is 58 km (36 mi) away to the north. Kankorvita, the Nepalese border transit point, is 61 km (38 mi) away and the Bhutanese border is 68 km (42 mi) away from the Indo-Bangladesh boundary near which Banglabandha stands.^[1]

History

Despite the geographical proximity of the borders of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, the issues of border control and territorial sovereignty have prevented the establishment of direct trade routes. Banglabandha was functioning as a "Land Customs Station" (LCS) before the Government of Bangladesh decided to establish an inland port. To exploit the potential of a three-way trading post, the government of Bangladesh decided to develop an inland port, with facilities such as customs, banking, warehouses, police and immigration posts.^[2] It was designed to be Bangladesh's first "export-oriented" inland port, explicitly promoting the transport of Bangladeshi goods to Nepal, India and Bhutan; other Bangladeshi inland ports are mainly used to import goods from India.^[2] Nepal favours such an inland port to enable access for its goods to the Mongla and Chittagong seaports.^[1]

Function

The Banglabandha port was formally inaugurated in May 2004 but has not been fully functional owing to the absence of a transit agreement for the use of Indian territory as a transport route for Bangladeshi, Nepalese and Bhutanese trade cargoes. Nepali transport trucks are not allowed entry into Bangladesh and must exchange their cargo at the "zero point" of the Indo-Bangladesh border. Indian authorities also limit transport from Nepal to Bangladesh to only two hours a day. The existing Indo-Nepalese agreement provides for cross-border transport between the two countries, but no arrangement for use of Indian territory to link Nepal and Bangladesh.^[1] But in 2010, a joint communique issued by the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed said both countries would cooperate to provide Nepalese and Bhutanese cargo access to the Bangladeshi ports.^[3] The commerce secretaries of Nepal and Bangladesh also held high-level talks to form an agreement resolving the transit issues between the two countries.^[

Info of Mohasthangar, Bogra

Mohasthangarh is one of the main attractions in north Bengal. It was the capital of Kingdom of the Mourjo, the Gupta and the Sen Dynasty.

This is the ancient archeological and historical which was, established in 2500 BC. It is the oldest archaeological site of Bangladesh is on the western bank of river Karatoa 18 km. north of Bogra town beside Bogra-Rangpur Road. The spectacular site is an imposing landmark in the area having a fortified, oblong enclosure measuring 5000 ft. by 4500 ft. with an average height of 15 ft. from the surrounding paddy fields. Beyond the fortified area, other ancient ruins fan out within a semicircle of about five miles radius. Several isolated mounds, the local names of which are Govinda Bhita Temple, Khodai Pathar Mound, Mankalir Kunda, Parasuramer Bedi, Jiyat Kunda etc. surround the fortified city.

This 3rd century archaeological site is still held to be of great sanctity by the Hindus. Every year (mid-April) and once in every 12 years (December) thousands of Hindu devotees join the bathing ceremony on the bank of river Karatoa.

A visit to Mahasthangarh site museum will open up for you wide variety of antiquities, ranging from terracotta objects to gold ornaments and coins recovered from the site. Now it is one of the major tourist spots maintained by Bangladesh archeological Department.

You can go to Mohasthanagar from Bogra town, 10 km. away. Don’t forget to visit Mohasthangar museum while visiting Mohasthangar. Mohasthan Buddhist Stambho is another attraction for the tourists; it is locally called as Behula’s Basar.



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Information of Mohastangor, Bogra