If one does not count the Indo-Pakistan land border, which has to have its own solutions, the problem of closed terrestrial crossings may be resolving itself elsewhere in South Asia. We are referring to the so-called "growth quadrangle" that includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Indian Northeast. Inder Kumar Gujral visited Nepal in early June, and perforce the Gujral Doctrine had to be applied. New Delhi decided to grant Kathmandu, with immediate effect, a land access to Bangladesh through the Northeast "chicken neck" on a six-month experimental basis. While the exact route details are still murky, and notwithstanding a bit of a fluster among Nepalis on what to do with the route once it was granted, this event has to be seen as an advance for regional understanding one which will possibly have a snowball effect.
Regardless of how useful the land corridor eventually is to Nepal, Mr Gujral´s decision has to be welcomed. India was acceding to an obvious principle of good neighbourliness by allowing Nepal the use of third country transit, thereby giving it the option of challenging the monopoly of the Calcutta Port Authority, under whose inefficient straitjacket Nepal´s government and business have suffered for decades. The possibility that now exists of Nepal exploring a route to the sea other than Calcutta will certainly be sobering for the babus over at the Authority.
The route granted Nepal starts at the country´s southeast border post of Kakarbhitta. It runs east along Indian Highway 31C, and a turnoff at Bagdogra brings it to the customs depot at Phulbari, across from where lies Bangabandh in Bangladesh. A highway built as a pork barrel for the people of North Bengal by then-President Hussain Mohammad Ershad takes one southwards to the delta country, over the Ganga, past Jessore and Khulna to the port of Mongla.
While nothing to rave about for the moment, the Khulna region is economically active, with many Korean businesses having set up shop here. The port itself, or the distributary Pusur, is being spruced up with financing from the Asian Development Bank.