Coronavirus: Tripura Trade Bodies Demand Closure of Akhaura Land Port after Detection of 1st Case

Agartala, April 7, 2020:

India-Bangladesh chamber of commerce and All Tripura Merchant Association today demanded the closure of Akhaura land port in view of the novel coronavirus pandemic that has infection a million people across the globe. This demand has been made against the backdrop of the discovery of the first case in Tripura.

The trade bodies felt that is this land port remains operational, it exposes the state to the novel coronavirus. The trade bodies also talked to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb regarding the issue, and he has reportedly begun looking into the matter.

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General Secretary of All India Merchant Association Sujit Ray said, “We can not afford to keep this land port open when the neighboring Bangladesh is reporting multiple COVID-19 cases. Every day 7 to 8 oil and dry fish laden lorries are entering Tripura every day even though immigration has been suspended soon after the lock down has come into being. We can not rule out any possibility, so this port should be closed down for the time being."

According to sources, every day about 10 lorries enter Tripura via the land port carrying oil and dry fish. Sources also added that these dry fish and oil items are being largely used in the Barak Valley in Assam, and not in Tripura.

“None of the items coming right now are used in Tripura. The kind of dry fish that comes through the border is mainly consumed in lower Assam's Barak Valley. On the other hand, the low cost edible oil that comes is also not used here”, Chief Patron of India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce Tripura Chapter, Tushar Chakraborty, told us.

Sources in Agartala land port also added that earlier, every day about 40 tons of fish used to come from Bangladesh. But, the fish traders, refusing to take the risk of contracting coronavirus, have stopped the import of fish. The influx of fish from Andhra Pradesh’s South Godavari has been also been stopped due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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All the important accessories which were being imported have been stopped, we were told. It is also worth noting here that as soon as the port was closed, laborers stopped coming for work. Allegations have also been labelled against Land Port manager Debasish Nandi that he stopped operations of the land port on a personal capacity. The matter was forwarded to the Chief secretary and strict orders were given to make the port operational until some concrete decisions were taken.

Notably, ATMA and India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce Tripura state chapter today donated some food items and sanitizing materials among the laborers and officials of the land port. Notable members  such as Tushar Chakraborty, Sujit Ray and Bholanath Bhowmik of ATMA along with Banshi Raj Saha of FICCI attended the program.

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