To expand trade between India and Bangladesh through Benapole land port, a meeting was held between the port officials of the two countries and the representatives of the business associations using the port.
The meeting was held on Tuesday (December 22) from 5 pm to 6 pm at the Benapole check post while maintaining social distance at the zero line.
During the talks, the leaders of the trade associations of the two countries said that if there is a demand to import about 700 trucks of goods every day, only 300 to 400 trucks are entering from India. Exports are also being disrupted. During the corona period, the goods were supposed to be unloaded from Indian trucks at Benapole port within 24 hours, but the trucks remained stuck day after day.
In addition, the rapid expansion of trade is being severely hampered by the inability of C&F staff members to enter the cargo branches of the ports on both sides due to the obstruction of the border guard BSF. Harassment is on the rise as BSF searches trucks carrying goods in the name of security. If these ongoing problems are not addressed soon, trade will become more unstable. As a result, the losses of traders would increase; the government will also lose more revenue.
Sajedur Rahman, general secretary of the Benapole C&F Staff Association, said port officials of the two countries had assured to take necessary steps in consultation with stakeholders to facilitate trade. In addition, the traders have also expressed their support for the timely unloading of goods.
The meeting was attended by Benapole Port Deputy Director (Traffic) Mamun Kabir Tarafdar, Assistant Director Atiqul Islam, Benapole C&F Staff Association General Secretary Sajedur Rahman and other leaders of various trade organizations.
India was represented by Shubhjit Mandal, Manager, Petrapole Landport, Director, Exports, Revenue Officer Mishra, Kartik Chandra, General Secretary, Petrapole C&F Staff Association, Arun Saha, Secretary, Bonga Goods Transport Association.
It is learned that the traders of the two countries are more interested in trade through Benapole port from the very beginning as the communication system is easy. About 60 per cent of the import and export trade in the country is done through Benapole port. About 40,000 crore rupees worth of goods are imported exported while about 8,000 crore rupees worth of goods are imported from India through this port every year. The government earns about Tk. 5,000 crore from imported goods. However, traders are losing interest in this route due to lack of necessary infrastructure at Benapole port in the interest of smooth trade.
There are various allegations in Petrapole port as well. As a result, revenue has not been coming as per the target for the last 5 years due to declining imports. As the government is losing revenue, so are the traders. Although an experimental consignment was imported three years ago after the India-Bangladesh-Nepal-Bhutan (BBIN) trade agreement between the four countries, it has not starting commercially due to infrastructural development problems.
In the current financial year (2020-21), the government's revenue target from Benapole port has been set at Tk. 6,244.72 crore. In the first five months of this year, i.e. from July to November, only Tk. 1,509.79 crore has been collected.