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West Bengal Govt examining all possible aspects to resolve Petrapole stalemate

Kolkata: The state government is "examining" all possible aspects to bring an end to the stalemate that arose at the Petrapole integrated check post in North 24-Parganas where the movement of trucks to Bangladesh has been halted since Wednesday.

Sources said that the movement has stopped as clearing and forwarding agents at Benapole in Bangladesh have demanded to allow the movement of trucks so that they too can export their goods.

After the truck movement was suspended for a long time in light of the pandemic, around 1,800 trucks stranded on this side of the integrated check post were gradually cleared with 250 of them moving into Bangladesh every day since June 7. A deadline was set to clear all the stranded trucks by June 14. The movement of trucks, however, continued till Wednesday morning and it was stopped after some trucks had moved across the border to Bangladesh.

Kartick Chakraborty, Secretary of Petrapole Clearing Forwarding Agent Association, said: "The concerned authorities in Bangladesh have informed us that they will not allow our trucks to enter unless their trucks are allowed to enter our country. The matter has been informed to the district authorities, who have stated that all decisions in this regard will be taken by the state government. At present around 1,300 trucks, many laden with perishable goods, are stranded at the integrated check post."

When contacted, a senior official of the state government said that they are "examining" all aspects to resolve this matter. Sources said that the state government is considering all issues related to COVID-19 before taking any steps with regards to ending this stalemate but that all steps required to resolve the issue at the earliest are being taken.

This comes on the day the movement of trucks at Changrabandha Integrated Check-post had commenced on Thursday.

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