Thousands of trucks are stranded at the Mahadipur Land Port in Malda, the second largest land port in the country, the largest being Petrapole land port. The land port is active with business as hundreds of trucks cross the border and travel to Bangladesh round the clock.
The trucks are stranded in Malda since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of the notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000. These trucks, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bengal and even Kashmir are queued up on a stretch of more than 10 kilometres from the Mahadipur land port.
These trucks ferry construction materials like stone chips and cement as well as tonnes of perishable goods like apples, grapes, tomatoes, onions along with other fruits and vegetables. These goods are supplied to the Chapai Nawabganj and Shibganj located in Bangladesh just on the other side of Mahadipur Land Port.
The annual business at the port is around Rs 4,000 crore whereas daily one ranges from Rs six to Rs eight crore rupees. India is a major exporter and ears in dollars due to this international business. But the situation has changed drastically.
The business has fallen to mere Rs two to Rs three crore rupees transactions per day, mostly on credit for time being. More than 2,000 trucks are stranded and so are the drivers and exporters. Around 400 trucks cross this port daily but now not even 100 are able to cross over to the neighbouring country.
Most of the drivers and export teams had left their cities with products before the announcement with 1000 and 500 notes. But now they are just piece of paper and they cannot even buy food or fuel.
Also read: PM Modi's emotional appeal on cash crisis: I understand your pain, bear with me for 50 days
"I have so much money with me but i cannot ear and buy anything. This is just bundle of paper which no one is accepting. I am being abused instead. I am waiting from past three days for some help to go Bangladesh with my truck," said Md. Armaan Khan a truck driver from Bhubaneswar in Odisha
"This decision has created lots of problem. I am not getting the dues of the truck hiring. I am waiting to get my money and release of the trucks. I have already run into huge losses," said Joga Singh, a small time businessman and truck owner.
Also read: Modi takes a swipe at Rahul Gandhi's bank visit, says those involved in scams now have to stand in queues
The average cost of hiring a truck from Delhi to Malda is around Rs one lakh for a minimum weight of 1,000 kilograms.
Bilateral trade collapses, thousands of trucks queued up on India, Bangladesh Border
Demonetisation has affected several transport businesses that ferry between India and Bangladesh.
Thousands of trucks are stranded at the Mahadipur Land Port in Malda, the second largest land port in the country, the largest being Petrapole land port. The land port is active with business as hundreds of trucks cross the border and travel to Bangladesh round the clock.
The trucks are stranded in Malda since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of the notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000. These trucks, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bengal and even Kashmir are queued up on a stretch of more than 10 kilometres from the Mahadipur land port.
These trucks ferry construction materials like stone chips and cement as well as tonnes of perishable goods like apples, grapes, tomatoes, onions along with other fruits and vegetables. These goods are supplied to the Chapai Nawabganj and Shibganj located in Bangladesh just on the other side of Mahadipur Land Port.
The land port is active with business as hundreds of trucks cross the border and travel to Bangladesh round the clock.(Photo: Bhaskar Roy)
The annual business at the port is around Rs 4,000 crore whereas daily one ranges from Rs six to Rs eight crore rupees. India is a major exporter and ears in dollars due to this international business. But the situation has changed drastically.
The business has fallen to mere Rs two to Rs three crore rupees transactions per day, mostly on credit for time being. More than 2,000 trucks are stranded and so are the drivers and exporters. Around 400 trucks cross this port daily but now not even 100 are able to cross over to the neighbouring country.
Most of the drivers and export teams had left their cities with products before the announcement with 1000 and 500 notes. But now they are just piece of paper and they cannot even buy food or fuel.
Also read: PM Modi's emotional appeal on cash crisis: I understand your pain, bear with me for 50 days
"I have so much money with me but i cannot ear and buy anything. This is just bundle of paper which no one is accepting. I am being abused instead. I am waiting from past three days for some help to go Bangladesh with my truck," said Md. Armaan Khan a truck driver from Bhubaneswar in Odisha
"This decision has created lots of problem. I am not getting the dues of the truck hiring. I am waiting to get my money and release of the trucks. I have already run into huge losses," said Joga Singh, a small time businessman and truck owner.
Also read: Modi takes a swipe at Rahul Gandhi's bank visit, says those involved in scams now have to stand in queues
The average cost of hiring a truck from Delhi to Malda is around Rs one lakh for a minimum weight of 1,000 kilograms.
A truck driver flashing Rs 500 notes. (Photo: Bhaskar Roy
"This is the second largest landport of the country. We generate a revenue of more than Rs 4,000 crore each year. Now it is mere Rs two crore per day, while 400 trucks has gone down to mere 150 trucks per day. It is a problem for the exporters and a revenue loss for government. If it continues like this for a few days then the entire business will stop from here," said Sameer Ghosh, Secretary of Mahadipur Exporters Association.
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Exporter Uttam Ghosh described the challenges in running his business," We have money but cannot use it. We don't have change. We cannot issue cheques to truck drivers. They need to be given cash for the day to day expenses during travel. Now we are stuck,"
Secretary of Carriage and Freight Welfare Association, Bhupati Mandal has a valid suggestion for sorting the problem to an extent. "We need an immediate currency exchange counter near the borders otherwise we will even run out of the possibility of recovering from these massive losses."
