India halts exports thru Sonamasjid land port

Indian port authorities have suspended goods exports through the Sonamasjid land port following a directive requiring Indian truck drivers and their assistants to stay inside the port overnight while waiting for their goods to be unloaded.

The port has been non-operational since Thursday morning.

Md Ruhul Amin, general secretary of the Sonamasjid Land Port C&F Agents Association, said that Indian truck drivers and their assistants usually return to India at night after entering the port with goods and waiting for them to be unloaded.

However, when they re-enter Bangladesh later, they are sometimes accused of carrying narcotics and other illegal goods. Several individuals have previously been detained in connection with such incidents.

To prevent these incidents, instructions were issued requiring Indian truck drivers and their assistants to remain inside the port overnight until their goods had been unloaded.

Ruhul Amin further said that discussions are underway among the relevant parties to resolve the situation.

However, no definite information is available on when the supply of goods will return to normal.

However, in response to this directive, the Indian side stopped sending trucks carrying goods to the Sonamasjid land port from Thursday morning.