4,000 wheat-laden trucks stranded at Guj port

Ahmedabad: The ban on wheat export by the Centre has left at least 4,000 trucks carrying the food grain stranded outside Deendayal Port at Kandla in Gujarat for want of permission from authorities to load them into vessels, port and industry officials said on Tuesday.

A three-day holiday last weekend (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) at the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has kept four vessels berthed at the port awaiting additional permission to load following the ban notified on May 13, they said.

From the Deendayal Port in Kutch district, wheat is primarily transported to African countries, Bangladesh, South Korea and Yemen.

"Around 4,000 trucks carrying wheat from Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra and some other states are parked outside the Kandla port since the last three to four days, awaiting loading due to uncertainty caused by the sudden ban on export by the Centre," said Teja Kangad, president of the local Gandhidham Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Compounding the problem was the extended three-day holiday at the DGFT on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, due to which four vessels berthed at the port to export wheat were left awaiting additional permission from the DGFT for Customs clearance after the export ban notification, he said.

Meanwhile, the port and local administration and the Gandhidam industry body have arranged for food for around 7,000 to 8,000 drivers and cleaners of these stranded trucks, Kangad and an official of the Deendayal Port Administration said.