District Representative Sylhet: The export of goods banned by India through Shewla Land Port in Sylhet has been halted.
No goods on India’s ban list have been exported from this port since Sunday morning. A source said that 11 trucks carrying goods were stranded at the port today. This has led to a kind of standstill in exports at the land port.
However, as news of the export ban spread, traders are not sending any goods to the port. As a result, no vehicles carrying exportable goods were stranded at the port on Monday, said Mahbub Hasan, Assistant Director of Shewla Land Port.
Meanwhile, it is reported that a consignment of melamine products entered India for export on Monday due to India’s permission. Multiple sources at Shewla Land Port confirmed this information.
Sources said that several trucks carrying goods that came for export were stranded at the port on Sunday. Only one truck carrying chemical goods entered India through Shewla Port. After that, two more trucks of goods were exported today. It is learnt that India has permission to export these.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India said in a directive on Saturday that some products, including processed food, from Bangladesh will not be allowed to enter through certain land ports of India. The directive also said that the entry of these products will be prohibited through the borders of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and West Bengal’s Changrabandha and Phulbari.
This has put the country’s exporters in a dilemma. However, Indian traders have also suffered losses due to this decision of India. Traders say that such a situation has arisen due to the contradictory decisions of the two countries.
According to sources at the Shewla Land Port, processed food, ready-made garments, plastic products, furniture, soft drinks and crockery products were exported the most through this port. But due to India’s ban, the export of most of these products has stopped.
Sources said that recently India banned the import of ready-made garments, fruits, fruit-flavored and carbonated beverages, processed food items (baked goods, snacks, chips and sweets), cotton and cotton waste, plastic and PVC products and wooden furniture through Sheola and other land ports of the country. Due to which the export of these products through Sheola port has been stopped.
Shah Alam, C&F agent of Sheola land port, said that due to this decision of India, large industrial enterprises will be affected. Because these industrial enterprises export most of their products using the land port. If exports are stopped like this, their production will decrease.
He said that India imports very small quantities of the products that it has not banned from importing from Bangladesh through the land port. Basically, it has banned the products that it imports the most.
He also said that 11 trucks carrying goods were stranded at the port due to the ban on exports on Sunday. However, it is known that Indian businessmen have contacted the customs of that country and applied to import a few trucks of products. Because they have paid the consignment value of many products in TT. They are trying to import them with special permission.
Assistant Director of Shewla Land Port Mahbub Hasan said that the products on which India has imposed a ban are not being exported. All other activities of the port are normal.
