Indo- Bangla trade has come to a halt in the wake of violence and agitation in Bangladesh, against the proposed election on January 5.
The Bangladesh customs department has urged its Indian counterpart to stop sending trucks with export consignments, because the land port warehouses at the Bangladesh borders are full with no space to handle further imports. This has happened since there has been no movement of goods within Bangladesh for the last one and a half weeks due to strikes, a Bangladesh custom department official said.
At least 2,200 Indian trucks are stranded at the various land ports on both sides of the Indo-Bangla border with goods worth above R200 crore. Of this, goods estimated to cost above R50 crore are perishable, an official of the Central Warehousing Corporation at the Petrapole land port said.
A custom department official told FE that Mohammed Idrish, Bangladesh?s warehouse superintendent at the Benapole land port (Bangladesh side) and Abdul Jalil, deputy director of the Benapole land port visited Petrapole (on the Indian side) on Monday. They have asked Subham Dasgupta, deputy director of the Petrapole land port, to stop sending export consignments.
Petrapole handles 80% of the $5-billion Indo-Bangla trade and 900 Indian trucks are stranded at Petrapole alone. Around 700 Indian trucks are stranded at Benapole.
The Bangladesh custom and immigration department has also asked the Indian government to stop issuing car passes for entering Bangladesh because the series of strikes called by 18 opposition parties in Bangladesh have caused all transportation to come to a halt.
A number of Indian buses and trucks carrying passengers and export consignments to Bangladesh are now stuck at Benapole after crossing the Indian side of the border. There have been damages caused to some of these vehicles.
Although Indian passengers visiting Bangladesh have managed to come back to their country after getting stuck at Benapole, Bangladeshis are stuck at the border unable to reach their destinations due to the continuous transport strike. Bangladeshi tourists visiting India are also facing difficulties because many are being forced to stay back beyond their visa period.
An official in the Bangladesh deputy high commission said on the condition of anonymity that if people are found to be staying back in a country beyond their period of visa, they are supposed to be taken into police custody. ?In an unofficial capacity, we have requested the Indian government to be a bit lenient on the issue,? the official said.
According to an official in the Petrapole immigration department, at least
600 tourists from Bangladesh have been stuck in the Petrapole border for the last one week but they have not been taken into police custody. ?There are more tourists who have not yet left India within their scheduled date, but they have not yet reported to the immigration in any of the ports, either.?
The government has not yet initiated any action to arrest such people, but the Indian High Commission in Dhaka has already expressed its concern on the development.
According to a source in the Bangladesh deputy high commission at Kolkata, India?s foreign secretary Sujata Singh has already discussed the issue with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and has made a request to take the necessary measures to clear the logjam. Singh is also slated to meet the leader of the opposition Khaleda Ziya, of the BNP.