Indo-Bangla trade through Bengal land ports remains stalled, passenger movement continues
Kolkata (PTI): Trade between India and Bangladesh via West Bengal’s land ports remained suspended for the second consecutive day on Monday due to ongoing violence in the neighbouring country, although there was limited movement of passengers, officials said.
Goods trucks have not moved since Sunday with the Bangladeshi side of the Petrapole land port remaining non-functional due to a government-declared holiday, except for emergency services.
Petrapole, located in Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district, serves as South Asia's largest land port and plays a crucial role in facilitating trade between India and Bangladesh, with hundreds of trucks crossing daily under normal circumstances.
While trade remains stalled, passenger movement continued in low numbers.
"Trade is yet to resume. However, movement of people, mainly students, continues across borders. So far, more than 700 students have arrived at Petrapole from Bangladesh," said Kamlesh Saini, manager of the Land Port Authority of India (Petrapole) told PTI.
So far, more than 4,500 Indian students have returned home from Bangladesh as the neighbouring country continues to reel under violent clashes that have killed over 100 people.
Saini said a help desk has been set up at Petrapole to assist arriving students with basic necessities such as snacks and water.
The BSF South Bengal Frontier has also set up special help desks at Integrated Check Posts (ICP) along the border to ensure the safe return of students amidst the unrest in Bangladesh.
Trade through other land ports in West Bengal, including Gojadanga, Fulbari, and Mahadipur, also remains suspended as Bangladeshi Customs offices are closed.
Indian officials are in discussions with their counterparts to facilitate the return of trucks and drivers stranded on the Bangladeshi side after delivering goods, sources said.
The last trade movement took place on Saturday with 110 trucks entering India from Bangladesh and 48 trucks leaving for the neighbouring country with exports. Currently, approximately 800 trucks loaded with merchandise are stranded in parking lots awaiting clearance to cross the border.
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Netanyahu refuses to halt Israeli strikes, 70 killed in Gaza, including 22 children during the ‘offe
DEIR AL-BALAH: Israeli air raids hit northern and southern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least of 70 individuals, including almost two dozen children, according to hospitals and health officials. The raids carried out after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement a day earlier that there will be no pause to the army campaign, asserting that Israel's offensive would endure until the militant group is utterly dismantled.
At least 50 individuals, 22 of them children, died in raids around the Jabaliya area in northern Gaza, hospitals and Gaza's Health Ministry reported. In Jabaliya, rescue workers used hand tools and the light of cellphones to dig through rubble and retrieve the bodies of children trapped beneath collapsed concrete.
Israel’s military declined to comment on the latest strikes but had issued warnings to Jabaliya residents late Tuesday, urging them to evacuate due to the alleged presence of militant infrastructure, including rocket launchers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused any pause in military operations in Gaza, stating that the offensive will persist until Hamas is fully dismantled. Netanyahu, in remarks released by his office Tuesday, stated that Israeli forces were preparing for a major escalation in Gaza, vowing they would advance "with great strength to complete the mission... It means destroying Hamas."
