Demanding withdrawal of a rule recently imposed by India’s Border Security Force (BSF), a group of users of the port connecting Petrapole port went for a strike which halted operations and caused long tailbacks of goods-laden vehicles on both sides of the checkpoint since Sunday (31 January) morning.
According to reports, which cited General Secretary of the Indian Petrapole C&F Agent Staff Association, Kartik Chandra, the Indian clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents, reportedly, used to enter Benapole carrying documents related to export and import at the time of every trade but recently the BSF started stopping the C&F agents on security grounds and said only the drivers of the corresponding import or export vehicle would be allowed to carry the necessary documents.
We informed them (BSF) that lorry drivers are not educated enough to complete a trade without the help of the C&F agents and urged them to allow the C&F agents but they didn’t pay heed to us, claimed Kartik Chandra speaking to the media alleging that the security force has also been spending excessive time in checking goods-laden vehicles at the ports triggering extra hazards on the traders and, all these have, reportedly, pushed an association of the ports’ users which also include truck drivers and C&F agents, namely the Petrapole Bandor Jibon Jibika Bachao Committee, to call for abstaining from work in protest.
