A devastating fire at India’s Petrapole land port has burnt 12 trucks waiting in a parking lot to enter Bangladesh’s Benapole land port with imported cotton. The fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday at Jayantipur Luxmi truck parking lot and quickly engulfed trucks parked there. However, no casualties have been reported. Read: 10 dead in India Covid hospital fire Kartik Chakraborty, general secretary of the Petrapole Port Staff Welfare Association of India, said a truck with cotton waiting to be exported to Bangladesh caught fire in the Jayantipur Lakshi truck parking lot near Petrapole port this morning. Later, fire broke out in 11 other cotton trucks nearby and they were also burnt down. The other cotton loaded trucks managed to move elsewhere, he said On information, members of the fire service arrived from Banga and Gobradanga and doused the fire at around 5 am after hours of effort. Sajedur Rahman, general secretary of the Benapole Port CNDF Agents Staff Association, said, "I have heard from traders on the other side that a fire broke out in 12 cotton loaded trucks to be imported to Bangladesh." Shri Rakesh Kumar, Deputy Director of Petrapole Port said Rs 8 crore worth of cotton was damaged in the fire. A five-member committee has been formed to probe the incident.

Fifteen among the 300 Bangladeshis who got stranded in India's Petrapole land port returned home  on Tuesday morning through Benapole checkpost.  They entered the country after receiving  NOC from the Deputy High Commission office of Bangladesh in Kolkata. They will be put on a14-day quarantine at a residential hotel in Benapole after completion of formalities.  Also read: Liquid oxygen import from India suspended at Benapole Ahsan Habib, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Benapole Immigration, said he have already received a letter to stop immigration for 14 days. The 15 Bangladeshis were allowed to return as they got special permission from Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, he said. It was reported on Monday that around 300 Bangladeshis were stranded in India's Petrapole land port following Bangladesh government's decision to  close the border with India due to a huge surge in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring country. Most of the Bangladeshis stranded there were either  patients or students. They said the border closure should have been announced a few days earlier.  Also read: Bangladesh-India transboundary river dying due to graft in ... However, import and export activities  are normal at Benapole port.   Matiar Rahman, director of the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce, said that disinfectants are not being sprayed on Indian trucks inside the port. The port authorities have not taken any  initiative to sanitize them.  Besides, Indian truck drivers are moving freely at Benapole market, putting local people at risk, he added. Abdul Jalil, acting director of Benapole Land Port, said there were no restrictions on trade activities  between the two countries and.  instructions have been given to keep all activities normal at the port in compliance with hygiene rules.

Around 5,000 trucks loaded with goods are waiting to cross into Bangladesh at India's Petrapole land port,  on the other side of the Benapole border. While they have been stranded, trade between the two countries has been greatly affected. It has already had a major impact on revenue collection (import duties).