Dhaka, (PTI): Bangladesh has signed a deal to buy 5 lakh tonnes of rice from India through official channels while import by the private sector resumed after three days of impasse with the lifting of an export ban by New Delhi, officials said here Wednesday.

Bangladesh's Director General of the Directorate of Food, Molla Waheeduzzaman, signed the deal Tuesday in Kolkata with West Bengal Essential Commodities Supplies Cooperative Ltd., for buying 5 lakh tonnes of rice, officials from the Ministry of Food said.

"Under the state-to-state agreement, the import of the five lakh tones of rice will be completed within 75 days of the signing of the contract," a senior official said.

Under the deal, 5 lakh tonnes of rice would be imported from India at the cost of Taka 1,396 crore while the average purchase rate of the rice was fixed at US$ 399 (approx. Taka 27,290) per tonne.

Starting this month, the shipments will reach the country in phases by road, sea, river ways and railways, they said.

Officials said Indian trucks carrying rice stranded at Benapole land port and Sonamosjid land port started entering Bangladesh after the withdrawal of the sudden export ban as Dhaka earlier said New Delhi did not block the export of rice under the letters of credit (L/C) already opened by Bangladeshi traders.

Newspaper reports had earleir said that under an order of India's Director General of Foreign Trade, L/Cs opened at below US$ 500 were cancelled last week, putting into question the fate of import of 12,000 tonnes rice by Bangladesh, as the L/Cs for them has been opened at US$ 390 per tonne.