India has sought Bangladesh’s approval to use a 765-kilovolt high-voltage transmission corridor through Parbatipur to increase electricity supplies to its northeastern states, known as the Seven Sisters.
Dhaka has taken a firm position that it will not allow a one-sided line through Bangladeshi territory without equal access and a regional grid arrangement, according to senior Power Division sources.
The issue was discussed at a conference of power secretaries held in Mumbai on October 9 and 10. Senior officials from Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and other countries attended the meeting organized by the World Bank.
India asked to use a 75-to-80-kilometre corridor through Parbatipur to supply power to the Seven Sisters. India said Bangladesh could also import electricity through the line according to its needs.
A policymaker who attended the meeting told Jugantor on condition of anonymity that Bangladesh had made clear it would not approve the corridor without equal access.
Bangladesh wants separate grid links with Nepal and Bhutan. The links could become part of a regional grid connecting India, Bhutan and Bangladesh or Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Bangladesh wants a regional rather than a bilateral grid line.
Sources including the Foreign Ministry said the corridor proposal had received positive discussion at a July 19–20 meeting of the joint working group of the two countries’ power secretaries, shortly before the previous Awami League government fell. Documents called for construction to begin in 2025 and finish in 2028, but the previous government did not give final approval.
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi raised the issue of a 765-kV grid line during a meeting with Power and Energy Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmud in Dhaka on August 6. Mahmud later told Jugantor that Bangladesh was not considering the proposal in the form India wanted.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report