Union Home Minister Amit Shah to inaugurate new terminal at India-Bangladesh border on October 26 as cargo movement resumes

Union Home Minister Amit Shah to inaugurate passenger terminal building and friendship gate at Petrapole, boosting trade relations with Bangladesh.

As trade resumes through land ports along the Bangladesh border, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is all set to inaugurate a passenger terminal building and a friendship gate at Petrapole in West Bengal on Sunday (October 26, 2024). In an indication that necessary administrative relations are moving on, around 10 officials from Bangladesh’s land port authority received training in Delhi last week.

The Petrapole-Benapole (Bangladesh) border is one of the busiest land ports along the Bangladesh border as nearly 70% of trade between the two countries takes place here. Data available with The Hindu shows that from October 20-25, as many as 2,635 trucks passed through the land port. The number of trucks from India stood at 1,776, while those from Bangladesh was 859.

Before the regime change in Bangladesh on August 5, the border saw the movement of approximately 600-700 trucks per day. From August 5 to August 8, in the immediate days after former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina escaped to India, the number of trucks that moved through Petrapole, Agartala, Dawki, Srimatpur, and Sutarkandi stood at 277, while the number had increased substantially to 1,028 from October 14 to October 20.

An official of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the current numbers show that trade volume is back to its regular pace.

The total number of cargo movements at seven land ports — Petrapole, Agartala, dawki, Srimantpur, Sutarkandi, Golakganj, and Mankachar — during the same period stood at 6,169.

Petrapole is the largest land port in South Asia and it is a vital gateway for trade and commerce between India and Bangladesh. It is also the eighth largest international immigration port of India, and facilitates the movement of over 23.5 lakh passengers annually between India and Bangladesh.

The new Passenger Terminal Building to be inaugurated on Sunday will be able to handle 20,000 passengers per day.