Hili land port resumes import-export activities after six-day halt

Import-export activities between Bangladesh and India through Hili land port in Dinajpur resumed yesterday after remaining suspended for six days due to an indefinite strike by Indian traders.

Md Anwar Hossain, deputy director of the Customs Preventive Department at Hili land port, confirmed the resumption of activities to BSS around 4:30pm yesterday.

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The activities resumed after Indian traders withdrew their indefinite strike at noon yesterday following assurances from the Indian government and administration.

With the reopening of the port, business activities have returned to normal, bringing renewed bustle among traders, customs officials, transport workers and others associated with the port.

Md Shahinur Islam Mondal, general secretary of the Hili Customs C&F Agents Association, said many traders at Hili in India had been suffering financial losses as the port was lagging behind other land ports in West Bengal in terms of commercial competition.

He said a section of the traders had decided to suspend import-export activities indefinitely over the issue, resulting in a complete halt to the movement of goods between the two countries through Hili land port for the past six days.

By 4:30pm, five trucks carrying imported Indian goods had entered Bangladesh through the port.

After the resumption of trade, Bangladeshi cargo trucks also started entering India, while trucks carrying various goods from India began entering Bangladesh. Arrangements were made for the immediate unloading of imported goods, and cleared consignments were transported to different parts of Bangladesh by local trucks, port authorities said.

Meanwhile, SI Md Zakaria, officer-in-charge of Hili Immigration Checkpost, said the movement of passport-holding passengers between the two countries had remained normal despite the suspension of import-export activities.

He said passenger movement through the immigration checkpost was continuing smoothly.