In a major relief to textile exporters, Petrapole and Benapole land customs stations will be operational all seven days a week from January 1, 2014, a move likely to ease congestion on the Bangladesh border.
"The move will ease off the way for trade between the two countries and it will especially benefit the textiles sectors of both the countries," Union Textiles Minister of K S Rao said.
The decision to keep Petrapole and Benapole customs stations operational on all weekdays came in the wake of Rao writing to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram about the problems being faced by exporters due to congestion at Bangladesh border.
A customs station includes any area in which imported goods or export goods are ordinarily kept before clearance by Customs Authorities.
"Regular meetings are being held between the jurisdictional Commissioners of Customs of India and Bangladesh as well as meetings with trade at the border to address issues of concern to the trade. These steps are expected to ease the traffic congestion to a large extent," a Textiles ministry statement said.
To further reduce congestion, the Land Ports Authority of India is building an Integrated Check Post (ICP) incorporating state of the art infrastructural facilities at Petrapole, which is expected to be ready by operation in 2014 to ensure smooth flow of goods being exported from India to Bangladesh, it added.
