By: PramodKumar
AS MANY AS 2,300 Indian trucks are stranded along the India-Bangladesh border in the Petrapole-Benapole region, nearly 100 km from Kolkata, owing to COVID-19 lockdown.
According to officials, 2,103 trucks — mostly loaded — have piled up on the Indian side awaiting clearance to unload stocks, 228 trucks are stranded at Benapole, on the Bangladeshi side.
India’s exports to Bangladesh stood at $9.21 billion in FY19, while imports from that county stood at $1.22 billion, with approximately 500 trucks moving on a daily basis either way.
On the Indian side, 231 trucks are stranded at the border, another 572 are parked at a facility managed by the local municipal body, and around 1,300 have registered for loading-unloading operations but are now parked at different non-registered/private parking lots nearby, media reports said.
Truck movement through Petropole first came to a halt on March 23, after West Bengal imposed a lockdown. Subsequently, India government announced a lockdown that began on March 25.
Vehicular movement resumed between April 30 and May 4, when it was decided that trucks would move until the ‘zero point’, where loading-unloading operations take place. However, truck movement was subsequently stopped following local political trouble.
Trinamool Congress-backed trade union, which controls a majority of the labourers and clearing agents, raised objections to the cross-border trade citing its members’ health concerns. Subsequently, this led to the suspension of truck movement.
