Benapole Landport: 24-hr operation starts on Aug 1

Import and export of goods through the Benapole-Petrapole land ports will be round the clock from August 1.

As of now goods-laden trucks can cross the border from 7:00am to 7:00pm six days a week except on Friday.

Once the new system is introduced, border trade would continue 24/7. It would cut the time lag on the border and help reduce the prices of goods imported and exported through the land ports.

Rahul Mahato, deputy commissioner of the Indian Department of Customs (Petrapole), has confirmed this.

He said Bangladesh has also started preparations to introduce trade operations 24/7 from August 1 onwards.

Sources said Deputy Commissioner of Bangladesh Department of Customs at Benapole Shakila Parvin informed Rahul Mahato that they had already completed their preparations on July 24.

The governments of the two countries had earlier finalised the issue of introducing round-the-clock trade at the border. However, infrastructural problems along the border were big obstacles that needed to be settled on an emergency basis.

The higher authorities of the governments kept putting pressure on their respective customs departments to quickly improve the infrastructural obstacles since the first week of July. As a result, the customs departments along the Benapole-Petrapole border decided to start trade 24/7 within a month.

Everyone involved in import, export and international trade has so far been happy with the new arrangements and the progress made to that end.

Usually, hundreds of trucks get stranded on both sides of the border and create a serious hassle for international trade. The situation is likely to improve significantly with the introduction of the new system, according to the people concerned.

Leader of the Clearing and Forwarding Agents' Association in Petrapole Kartik Chakraborty told The Daily Star that it was a historic decision in expanding commercial relations between the two countries.

He said every day a huge amount of money was being wasted due to delay at the ports. On average, 350 trucks enter Bangladesh and 150-200 trucks enter India every day. Besides, 2,000 to 2,500 trucks have to remain stranded on both sides of the border for not getting the serial, he added.

Chakraborty believes the round-the-clock border trade will solve this problem.

Atul Chandra Das, a top importer and exporter at Petrapole, said at long last the two governments had taken a positive decision in favour of trade between the two countries.

As of now, trucks carrying goods except perishable ones have to wait in long queues for one to two weeks. On average, Rs 1,500-2,000 are spent on parking every day per truck. The cost was carried over to the consumers of two countries eventually.

Against this backdrop, businesspersons have apparently been reluctant to import and export through the Benapole-Petrapole border.

Attempts were made to contact Saiful Islam, first secretary (commerce) at Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, over phone, but he could not be reached.

The deputy high commission sources said the high-ups in Bangladesh government had recently held talks with their Indian counterparts over the issue, following which both the sides reached an agreement for round-the-clock trade.