The Hindu Business Line : Land border conundrum

IMPORTANT LAND BORDER routes in West Bengal (Petrapole, Hili and Mahadipur) and the North-East (Dawki, in Meghalaya) to Bangladesh, which have over the years aided the steady growth of border trade between the two countries, are today virtually no man's land, yielding little benefits to the exporting community. While facilities at Petrapole have improved considerably, there is much room for upgrading infrastructure in many of North Bengal's other land border points. Trade policies, which touch on so many aspects of external trade, hardly ever mention these land border routes; and for the State governments, it is only one of the many problems that need to be addressed. None of these border points looks like an international border, reinforcing the impression that even for the key stakeholders — trade, export promotion councils and Central and State governments — the state of neglect of these LCS points is not top priority. These routes, admittedly the main conduits of growing Indo-Bangla trade over the years, are situated almost contiguously along the international boundaries of West Bengal, Assam and Meghalaya. And despite regular inspections by various Commerce Ministry teams, particularly at Petrapole, and consultations through a Joint Business Group, there has been little improvement at the border points.

Trucks become meek captives of the system once they reach Bongaon, the border town. As they wait on the Bongaon-Petrapole road, at times for days, for Customs and BSF clearance before the goods reach their destination across the border, they often fall prey to anti-social elements. Police and BSF can do little here, as the roads are narrow, and both sides are wooded. The recently introduced checks and re-checks, in the wake of growing fears over illegal border crossings and smuggling of arms and ammunition, have hopelessly slowed down movement of trucks, leading to higher demurrage charges for exporters, and even cancellation of LCs for those who miss shipment schedules.

While no one denies the misuse of facilities by some exporters, who use the poorly-manned smaller land Customs stations such as Gojadanga (Basirhat) to push undisclosed consignments, this is no reason why the land border routes should not enjoy facilities befitting an international border. The Commerce Minister frequently reminds the trade that we need to export goods and not documents; in that context, the creation of a single land port authority to supervise these points will bring in the discipline now lacking. Petrapole, which accounts for four-fifths of the total land border trade with Bangladesh, at nearly Rs 3,000 crore annually, and growing, should be declared a land port within an encircled area. It should be administered by a single authority under a Central seal, comprising top district administration officials, the Customs, the Border Security Force, Customs House Agents and representatives of trade and other stakeholder bodies, just as it is in Benapole, on the Bangladesh side. Such an authority will have its work cut out for it once the South Asia Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) comes into force.

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