Money exchangers face losses due to Bangladesh unrest

Fulbari: Money exchangers located on the India-Bangladesh border in Fulbari are facing tough times owing to the unrest in Bangladesh.

The money exchangers are worried about their future as the number of people and tourists visiting Bangladesh from India and vice versa has nearly come to a halt.

“Since the situation aggravated in Bangladesh, the number of people crossing the border has drastically decreased. We haven’t earned anything for a long time. Some exchangers had to shut down their shops due to huge losses. We also heard that Visa processing for Bangladesh will be suspended in the next few days. If this happens, our situation will further worsen.” said Sanjay Ghosh, a Money Exchanger of the area. About 70 shops have been involved in money exchange business at the border area in Fulbari, around 16 km from Siliguri in the Jalpaiguri district for a long time. According to the exchangers, their business was hampered by the Covid-19 pandemic. About a year ago, when the situation began to normalize gradually, unrest in Bangladesh, once again, emerged as a major setback for them. After the pandemic, about Rs. 4 to 5 lakh used to be exchanged per day from a single shop. Earlier, the amount was huge. But now not even Rs. 10000 is exchanged in a day. Along with them, international traders involved in import-exports are also facing losses due to the closure of the border. Around 300 to 350 trucks, including Bhutanese trucks used to go to Bangladesh through this border, loaded with boulders, stones and ginger.

The traders involved in export and imports have been facing a loss of about Rs. 40-50 lakhs per day. They are however hopeful that import-export will resume in a few days. “Import-export has been suspended at present. However, we are hopeful that the situation will normalize within a few days and the services will resume,” said Abdul Khalek, President of the Export Import Association in Fulbari.