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Mohan Padmanabhan

Mahadipur (Malda) , Sept. 3

THE Commerce Ministry, in a bid to expand trade with Bangladesh through land border routes, has launched a fresh initiative to upgrade the three land customs stations (LCS) of Hilli, Mahadipur and Phulbari in North Bengal.

As part of this exercise, a three member team of Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), along with senior officials of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), eastern region, has recently carried out a preliminary inspection of the three sites for locating suitable land to construct a truck terminal-cum-warehouse, with weighment and other facilities for customs appraisal.

Mr Dipen Ghosh, Regional Manager, CWC, told Business Line that as per the Ministry directive, the process will have to be completed on a priority basis before March 31, 2005. He said a large contingent of Commerce Ministry officials is expected to visit the three LCS points for interaction with both exporters of the region and local administration sometime this month for speeding up the process.

While sounding confident about the Phulbari border point, which was close to Siliguri, and an important entry point for goods coming in from Nepal, Mr Ghosh felt the other two may pose some obstacles. It is no secret that there is a coterie, with political connections, operating in Hilli and Mahadipur, which may be averse to a government organisation setting up a bigger truck terminal with additional facilities. Trade sources, however, felt that once the Central Government notifies these two points, along with Phulbari, as full-fledged Land Ports, law would move in, making it impossible for muscle-groups to function freely.

Mr Ghosh said fruitful talks were held with the exporters' associations in both Hili and Mahadipur, and CWC has suggested that it was even welcome to work in a collaborative venture with the groups controlling the existing truck terminals. He said there was still some thinking going on in the Ministry whether the major truck terminal facility should be located at Phulbari or Siliguri, especially with the Nathu La Pass trade point with China now having come into sharper focus.

According to Mr M.R. Choudhuri of Ruksana International, an export house in Kaliachak, Malda, and a key functionary in the Mahadipur Exporters' Association, it has been suggested to CWC that the truck terminal could be set up jointly, keeping in mind the existing private parking facilities at three points at Mahadipur. Mr Choudhuri said the parking lots have been segregated on the basis of export cargo, like a separate parking for perishables, and another for grains etc.

Meanwhile, the Mahadipur Exporters' Association has recently represented to the jurisdictional customs authorities in Kolkata that a new system be implemented for deposit of government duties, cess and import duty at the Mahadipur branch of Central Bank of India, located within 2 km of the LCS point.

According to Mr Sukumar Saha, Secretary of the association, exporters of the area, particularly of perishables, now find it very difficult to deposit the cess and customs duty at the SBI branch located at Malda town, some 21 km away from the border point.

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