Hartal brings woe to cross-border travellers at Burimari port
The countrywide hartal enforced by BNP during the last two days meant untold sufferings for around 200 people who reached the customs check post at Burimari land port in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat district to enter Bangladesh from India.
Of them, 55 are Indians travellers to Bangladesh while 144 others are Bangladeshi people who had gone to India for different purposes, said sources immigration police at Burimari.
Most of the 130 travellers who came on Wednesday and 69 others who came yesterday managed to stay at hotels at Burimari land port and Patgram upazila headquarters, they said.
"I went to India accompanying my sick father for his treatment two weeks ago. We did not know about hartal in Bangladesh when we were in India,” said Haripado Narayon Karmoker, 40, of Mirzapur upazila in Tangail.
“When we came to Burimari customs check post to return to Bangladesh I heard about the hartal. We booked a bed at a local hotel, as we could not go home due to lack of transport,” he said.
Gonesh Chandro Sen, 48, of Gabtoli upazila in Bogra district, said, "I, my wife and two of our grandsons came to Bangladesh through Burimari land custom check post, as the travel period of our visa expired. Now we are staying at a hotel here.”
Indian citizen Puja Roy Monish, 50, came to Bangladesh with her husband Sorbindu Roy on Wednesday morning.
“We have come to Bangladesh for a month to visit our relatives in Tangail, Dhaka and Mushiganj. We are staying at a hotel at Patgram upazila headquarters. Our family members in India are in anxiety as we are stranded here due to hartal in Bangladesh,” she said.
Export through Burimari land port remained suspended due to the two-day hartal.
However, about one hundred vehicles loaded with imported goods from India and Bhutan entered Bangladesh through Burimari land port in last two days, said Burimari custom inspector Tariqul Islam.
The traders at Burimari land port stored the imported goods in their godowns but the goods could not be loaded onto vehicles due to lack of transport in the last two days, said clearing and forwarding agent Sayeduzzaman sayeed.
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