DHAKA: In exchange of the 268.4 acres of its land that will be handed over to Bangladesh, the state government of Assam wants access to the optical fibre submarine international internet gateway called the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) at its landing point at Cox`s Bazar.
The aim is to make Assam the third communication hub in the country after Mumbai and Chennai.
The state government has also included in its exchange list rail, road and river transit routes through Bangladesh, which is mainly aimed at making the Brahmaputra a financially viable transport route.
The river, which flows into Bangladesh after cutting the state along its length, has already been declared a national waterway by the Centre.
The Assam government has conveyed its wishes in a letter to the external affairs ministry of India.
"While conveying the concurrence of the state government to the draft protocol, the government of Assam would also request the Centre to take up with Bangladesh the issues concerning (i) rail, river and road transit routes through Bangladesh from Assam including operationalising river routes with night navigation facilities and (ii) providing access to international internet gateway through SEA-ME-WE-4 undersea submarine cable system at Cox`s Bazar, Bangladesh. Both these issues are extremely critical for Assam..."
Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi also expressed high hopes that the state government`s wants would be fulfilled by the Bangladesh government after the land deal is ratified by Parliament.
The SEA-ME-WE-4 is a 18,800-km optical fibre submarine cable system which is the primary internet backbone between Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe. On the Indian subcontinent, the cable system has landing points at Karachi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangladesh.
Access to this gateway holds the key to setting up a high-speed internet and telecommunications base in the state, which experts say would help Assam greatly in playing the pivotal role in the centre`s Look East Policy.
Source: TOI
BDST: 2038 HRS, DEC 26, 2013
SR/MMA
