Dhaka help needed to clear check-post jam

The Union Commerce ministry is yet to take any initiative to sort out the issue even as Bangladeshi authorities violate rules despite advance intimation about delays, Customs officials said. This, they stressed, is in flagrant defiance of the Indo-Bangla agreement, which states a consignment should not be divided into parts.

But the Bangladesh deputy high commission at Petrapole LCS told Newsline that they are not aware of any such problem.

Customs officials said some 1,500 to 2,000 trucks are made wait along the nine-kilometre stretch from Bongaon to Petrapole, barely wide enough for a truck each way, before they are allowed into the Central Warehousing Corporation’s complex for checking. On good days, Customs officials said some 200 to 250 trucks are given the green signal to enter Bangladesh.

According to information, around 150 buses and trucks enter India daily from Bangladesh, as the inward traffic of passengers is higher than that of cargo.

Customs officials said their Bangladeshi counterparts regularly clear consignments in phases — instead of, say, releasing 10 trucks at one go, only five are cleared by the Benapole LCS on its side. Result: India cannot release the five trucks unless the others come and complete the consignment, leading to inordinate delays at the no-man’s land between the two check-posts.

Border Security Force officials said this has security implications, too, as people coming with the trucks cannot always be tracked. Though the Union Home ministry has mooted issuing jumbo passports to truck drivers and cleaners from both countries — at present they cross the border without passports — but the plan has not materialised yet. Transporters, too, pose a hurdle, saying the move would increase costs.

In a recent meeting between Custom authorities, CWC and the Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association, it was decided to push back trucks coming with partial consignments. But Indian exporters feel the step could give rise to diplomatic problems.

After visiting Petrapole last June Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh had discussed the issue with the department of border management under Home and Finance ministries, Railways, CWC, BSF and the state government. But he did not follow up the issue with Dhaka.