The Hindu Business Line : Economic blockade hits goods transport in Nepal

THE indefinite economic blockade, as declared by the Maoist rebels, entered the seventh day on Sunday throwing transportation of goods within Nepal and to India out of gear.

Long queues of trucks carrying thousands of tonnes of goods are stranded at Raxaul, the last Indian town on the India-Nepal border.

According to road transport operators here, several hundred trucks have been waiting outside this border town for gaining an entry into the country.

More than a hundred of them are carrying palm oil, another 90 or so LPG and more than 40 are loaded with billets.

The suspension of transportation has created pockets of shortage of essential commodities in this country. The shortage will only worsen if the blockade persists.

The trucks stranded here are unable to go back to either Kolkata or Patna or other places in India for loading.

Despite the local administration's bid to offer police and army escorts, the transport operators are not feeling confident. The transporters are being advised to form convoys, take escorts and proceed.

The Indian Railways too is concerned at the current stalemate.

Concor, the Railways subsidiary, holds majority stake in Himalayan Terminals Pvt Ltd (HTPL), which runs the local inland clearance depot (ICD) set up with the World Bank assistance and commissioned in July this year.

The three other partners are the Transworld group and two Nepalese companies, Nepal Transit Warehousing Corporation and Interstate Multimodal Transport Pvt Ltd.

Ever since the ICD was commissioned, third country imports and exports in containers routed through Kolkata port started moving straight into the ICD.

The blockade has rendered de-stuffing of imported containers difficult to undertake.

The workers are reluctant to work, fearing reprisals; goods de-stuffed cannot be taken out of the ICD, as no trucks are available. The 75,000-sq ft capacity warehouse is choc-a-bloc with imports.

The importers unable to take their consignments out of the warehouse may have to be granted extended free period. "For the past one week or so, we have stopped earning anything," says a jaded official of HTPL.

The Customs office at the ICD is deserted and normal functioning of Everest Bank Ltd, a joint venture with Punjab National Bank, remains suspended.

Concor fears that continuation of the blockade will force it to clamp restriction on loading at the port end. This morning, one rake left the ICD for Kolkata with fewer empties than scheduled.

The containers are not getting de-stuffed and therefore, empties are not available.

A high-level delegation of the Indian Railways due to visit Kathmandu to review the treaty governing rail movement between the two countries is likely to take up the issue.

Meanwhile, Independent Transport Workers Association of Nepal has urged both the Nepalese Government and the rebels to declare roads and highways as zones of peace in the interest of the common people.