The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Government will import 1,00,000 metric tonnes of diesel from India so that farmers have fuel to irrigate lands during the current boro rice season, official sources said yesterday.

"We have adequate stocks of diesel, but still to avoid any unseen situation we have plans to import further from our neighbouring country," said Anwarul Karim, Chairman of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), a state-run company, which is also the sole importer and distributor of fuel oil in the country.

Sources in the Ministry of Agriculture said the country would need about 8,40,000 metric tonnes of diesel only for irrigating 4.5 million hectares of land during this crop season.

The agriculture ministry of the army-backed intering government is ramping up production of main staple rice after floods and a cyclone of last year left it with a shortfall of up to 2 million tonnes.

"We will purchase diesel from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited to beef up our stocks and negotiations on fixing the premium are about to enter a final stage," the BPC Chairman told journalists.

The Government was trying to increase the production of boro (paddy) by 21 per cent to 17.5 million tonnes this year, he added.

The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources last month approved a proposal to import 1,20,000 metric tonnes of diesel from India by the BPC.