Bangladesh has extended the water transit protocol with India for a year and now considering a long-term deal on the issue, said shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader on Monday.
"The trade treaty with India has been extended for three years on Mar 29. Under this the water transit protocol has been renewed for a year," the shipping secretary told reporters at the shipping ministry on Monday.
He said the renewal was made effective from Apr 1.
The trade treaty signed in 1972 with provision for renewal after three years was expired on Mar 31.
The water transit protocol was first signed in 1980 under a bilateral trade agreement which facilitated 'mutually beneficial arrangements' for the use of the waterways for commerce.
Shipping secretary said India wanted to renew the water transit protocol for three years in line with the bilateral trade treaty.
"The two countries will hold a meeting on the issue soon. If the outcome is positive there is a possibility of a long-term protocol renewal," he added.
Under the protocol, India uses Bangladesh's internal river routes for transporting goods from western part to its eastern states.
At present, Bangladesh receives Tk 55 million a year in fees from India under the protocol. "There is a possibility the fee will increase in future," shipping secretary said.
Mentioning that Bangladesh's cement industry would have faced problems if the protocol was not renewed, Hawlader said, "Local cement factories import almost 80 percent of its raw material from India through river routes."
Earlier in the day, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran paid a courtesy call on shipping minister Shajahan Khan at his office.
Asked about the meeting, Hawlader said they discussed bilateral issues.
Ads by Cash-71
Inmates of a Dhaka University dormitory set on fire two buses and vandalised another three on Monday night following an altercation with a bus driver in city's Azimpur area.
The inmates of S M Hall indulged in violence in front of Azimpur Maternity Hospital around 10.30pm.
They brought one of the buses to the university campus before damaging it completely.
Fire service man Farid Uddin told they tamed the blaze around 11pm.
"The incident took place after five students of S M Hall, who got into the bus near the city's Science Lab area, were forced to get down in front of Home Economics College," university proctor Amjad Ali told .
"Those students wanted to travel up to Azimpur," he said and added action will be taken against those found guilty after investigation into the incident.
However, the inmates of the hall alleged that they indulged in violence as they heard that one of the university students had been abducted by the transport owners.
At least six suspected muggers were killed and two others injured in a 'gunfight' with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Narsinghdi Sadar Upazila on Monday, an official of the elite force said.
"The gunfight took place around 2:30 in the afternoon in an area adjacent to bridge number 5 in Narsinghdi," RAB-11 Narsinghdi commanding officer (CO) lieutenant colonel Abu Hena Mostofa told .
He said a businessman had informed them that a group of muggers, riding a microbus, robbed him of Tk 40,000. "We immediately threw up a barricade on the road near bridge number 5," he said.
"When the muggers with the microbus came close to the Bridge area, they opened fire. RAB members also fired back," the officer claimed.
According to him, the firefight lasted for around half an hour.
Six of the muggers died on the spot and two others were injured, Lt Col Mostofa said but he could not immediately confirm their identity.
Two RAB members were also injured in the 'gunfight', he added.
A Saudi government team is coming to Dhaka on Tuesday to investigate murder of its Dhaka embassy staff, a foreign ministry official said.
"The Saudi Arabian investigation team is coming tomorrow (Tuesday)," the foreign ministry's director general Mohammad Nazrul Islam told bdnews24.com on Monday.
Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem Al-Ali, 45, an official with the consular section of the embassy, was shot by unknown gunmen near his Gulshan house in the wee hours of Mar 6. He died around 5am at the city's United Hospital.
Police are yet to make any arrests or name suspects.