Delhi push for Bangla trade

Collected
Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha on Wednesday, directing the state to allow transportation of essential goods through all entry points on the Bangladesh border without the delay.

“You are, therefore, again directed to allow cross land border transportation through all Indo-Bangladesh borders with no further delay and send the compliance report on opening of cross land border by today itself,” wrote Bhalla.

He wrote the Centre had through a letter on April 24 directed that transportation of essential goods ought to be allowed through borders with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The Union home secretary on Wednesday wrote that goods traffic through border crossings between India and Bangladesh was yet to resume despite the directions.

“This act of the state of West Bengal, amounts to violation of the orders issued by the MHA beneath the Disaster Management Act, 2005,” the letter reads.

Bhalla said your choice by the state could leave a direct effect on the country’s international commitments. “…the unilateral action for the federal government of West Bengal to avoid the cross land border movement of essential goods would have larger implications for the Indian Government in regards to to its legally binding international commitments,” browse the letter.

Asked about Bengal’s stance on the issue, home secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay said the state would address the problem with “consideration of all related aspects”.

Sources at Nabanna said the trade through the international borders cannot be resumed because of resistance from local persons in the setting of Covid-19 pandemic. “We had taken initiatives to resume the trade between India and Bangladesh through Petrapole a couple of days ago.

But the trade had to be stopped within a few days as a result of the resistance of local residents,” said an official.

A portion of the officials said that the state was trying to create local people recognize that trade with the neighbouring countries was important for the nation.

“People are apprehending spread of Covid-19 if the trade resumes. We must assure them that enough precautionary measures are being taken. We can not start the trade by keeping them at gun point,” said the official.

In case of several international check-posts on the borders with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, the cargo movement has stopped because the lockdown was imposed and the state is trying to determine the situation before taking a final call on the problem, sources said.

“Local resistance may be the primary reason behind the situation at north Bengal check-posts. We'd make an effort to engage villagers in a gathering with the administration in order that they are often assured that proper measures would be taken to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus,” said a source.

IMCT
Ajay Bhalla wrote another letter to Rajiva Sinha on Wednesday asking him to take measures on the points raised by the inter-ministerial central team that had visited the state recently.

Bhalla wrote that the IMCT had discovered that Bengal was characterised by an extremely low rate of testing and an extremely higher rate of mortality (13.2 %). Moreover, lockdown violations and instances of overcrowding in markets also remained a problem.
Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com

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