- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, February 23, 2022 : Inaugurating the 2nd edition of ‘Bangladesh Film Festival’ here at Agartala, the Chief Minister – Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday said that Tripura is becoming a commercial corridor in the Northeast with the opening up of new horizons of communication, including water and railways, with huge potential for filmmaking in the state.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Deb said “Geographical boundaries can never be an obstacle in the way of mutual heart between Tripura and Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh have a long and cordial relationship, thanks to the sincere efforts of the two Prime Ministers, and are now self-reflecting on cultural and commercial development.
“With the opportunity for various industries in Tripura and the outline of the next 25 years “Lakshya-2047”, huge potential has been created for commercial investment and setting up of industries by the industrialists of Bangladesh”, he added.
Highlighting economical perspectives, Chief Minister said “With the opening of Chittagong port, Bangladesh and North Eastern states will be significantly benefited. Amount of lakhs and crores will be boosted with this region of NE and Bangladesh. At present, steel and cement are being procured from Bangladesh and infrastructural developmental work is going on in Tripura amounting to Rs 20,000 crore while Rs 15,000 crore to be invested in railway in the coming days across the state”.
Expressing heartfelt gratefulness to the people of Tripura, Bangladesh’s Information and Broadcasting minister and MP Muhammed Hasan Mahmud said “Lakhs of migrated Bangladeshi people were given shelter by Tripura people. For that, I express my gratitude to the people of this state. Many people, who had played a significant role during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 were honoured and felicitated by the government of Bangladesh in the past years.”
“The contribution of India along with Tripura will always be written in golden words in the history of Bangladesh. About 1 crore people took shelter in India. And when the Pakistan government announced the verdict of the father of the nation ‘Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman’, popularly known as ‘Bangabandhu’, the Indian government promptly acted against this announcement. And this contribution cannot be forgotten”, he added.
He said “Although, we are the residents of two different countries, our language, culture and traditions, lifestyles, food, environment, etc are the same and only political differences have created boundaries amongst us. Aiming to boost and strengthen the friendly-relation between the people of these two countries, we have arranged a ‘Film Festival’ here at Agartala. These films are the means of communication for the people of both the nations. Through this film festival event, our proximity and bonding will become strong.”
Md Mahmud had concurred with Tripura’s Information and Cultural Affairs minister Sushanta Chowdhury of organizing this film festival under the open sky which will amplify the cordial relation of people in Tripura and Bangladesh. Under the leadership of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the bondage had reached higher altitudes of relationship.
In the programme, Bangladesh MPs Saimum Sarowar Kamal and Mamtaz Begum, and Secretary of Bangladesh’s I&B ministry Md Makbul Hosen PAA and Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala, Arif Mohammed were present in the programme.
Apart from them, Bangladesh film industry celebrities Ferdous Ahmed, Apu Biswas and others were present here at Agartala.
