The Hindu Business Line : Petrapole infrastructure: Bengal takes up issue with Centre

Infrastructure plans
The Govt is expected to set up truck terminal, hotels, widen roads and provide warehousing facilities
It also wants facilities to be improved at Benapole which is on the Bangladesh side of the border

Bongaon , Oct. 29

The West Bengal Government has taken up with the Union Government the issue of improving infrastructure at Petrapole, which is the border town located about 10 km from here, to facilitate trade with Bangladesh through the Petrapole-Benapole land route, according to Mr Nirupam Sen, West Bengal Minister for Commerce & Industry.

"Since it is a matter of trade relations between the two countries, we have no other option but to involve the Centre and accordingly the Union Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has already visited Petrapole," Mr Sen told newspersons on the sidelines of the inauguration of the new building of the West Bengal State Co-operative Bank (WBSCB) here on Saturday.

Facilities planned

The improvement of infrastructure, the Minister indicated, would cover, among other things, the setting up of a truck terminal, widening of roads, warehousing facilities, amenities in the form of hotels and restaurants for the international passengers as well as truck operators. "But no concrete schemes have been worked out as yet," he said.

He felt that upgradation of facilities was also required at Benapole located on the other side of the border so that the facilities on both sides were compatible. "But then the Union Government has to take up the issue with the Bangladesh Government as we cannot do anything in this regard," he observed.

Mr Saugata Roy, the local MLA (Trinamul Congress), however, quoted figures to suggest that the flow of trucks through the Petrapole border was showing a declining trend — from more than a lakh vehicles in 2004-05 to around 88,000 in 2005-06. In the first six months of the current fiscal the figure was 42,580. In addition to poor infrastructure, the stranglehold of Mafia Raj in the area, over which, as he complained, the local administration had no control, was responsible for the present state of affairs. The Minister conceded that the domination of the local mafia was a matter of concern.

Foreign exchange

Mr Samir Ghosh, Chairman of WBSCB, stated that the bank's local branch, located close to Petrapole, was keen on starting foreign exchange operations to facilitate border trade with Bangladesh, expressing hope that the Reserve Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) would give necessary clearances soon. WBSCB was also keen to launch ATMs in some of its branches, he said. He added that 25 of the bank's 41 branches were also computerised he said and sought RBI's help in this matter. The local office of WBSCB, the Chairman indicated, would be integrated with RTGS already introduced at the bank early this year.

The West Bengal Minister for Cooperation, Mr Rabin Ghosh, Ms Aparna Gupta, Sabhadhipati of North 24 Parganas district, among others, also spoke on the occasion. There was a virtual scramble among local people to open new deposit accounts in the branch and the bank officials had a trying time to cope with the crowd.

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