Asim Sayeed, Jibannagar (Chuadanga)

The government gazetted the Jibannagar Daulatganj customs station in Chuadanga as a full-fledged land port on July 31, 2013.

However, even after 11 years of gazette publication, the proposed land port has not come into operation.

Earlier, on August 24 of the same year, the then government's Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan officially inaugurated the land port.

Then, on June 4, 2014, Shajahan Khan and the then Indian Ambassador Pankaj Sharan again visited the proposed site for the port. At that time, two senior officials of the Bangladesh and Indian governments announced the launch of the port soon, but later that initiative stalled.

According to the information provided by the Jibannagar Land Port Implementation Committee, the Daulatganj-Majdia land port was operational as a customs station from 1953 to 1965. But in 1965, the customs station was closed during the Pakistan-India war.

Later, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) of the Bangladesh government ordered the reopening of the customs station in 1972. Later, the port was closed again for unknown reasons. Then on July 15, 1998, the National Board of Revenue issued a notification to reopen the customs station and allowed the import of 19 products at the port.

Later, on June 11, 2009, the National Board of Revenue ordered all the relevant departments to implement the customs station in another notification. That too has not seen the light of day. Now, after the publication of the final gazette, it remains to be seen how long it will take to implement it.

The proposed Daulatganj port has a transshipment yard on three acres of land. Initially, it is possible to load and unload 200 vehicles of goods. Moreover, there is a 30-foot wide road with a capacity of 50 tons at the zero point of the border and a 20-foot wide 6-kilometer road to Jibannagar.

At the same time, all types of road communication and infrastructure facilities are available. The distance from the port to the Indian National Highway is only 34 kilometers. And the distance to Dhaka is 240 kilometers.

In addition, it is easy to travel to all places on the Indian side from the national highway. The distance from the national highway to other land ports in the country is much less than that of other land ports in the country, that is, 25 kilometers. Due to which both time and cost will be less at this port than other land ports in the country with India. Despite the existing facilities, the port has not been launched.

Majedur Rahman Liton, Deputy General Secretary of the Daulatganj-Majdia Land Port C&F, said that currently 500-600 trucks come and go through Benapole Port daily. It takes three to 18 days to unload them. This causes huge financial losses. If Daulatganj becomes a full-fledged land port, the pressure on Benapole land port will be reduced, as well as the financial losses of those involved in import and export will be greatly reduced. In addition, thousands of local people will be employed here.

Meanwhile, a 5-member delegation led by Munshi Moniruzzaman, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, inspected the proposed Daulatganj land port in Jibannagar, Chuadanga on Sunday.

After the inspection, the delegation did not agree to talk to journalists. Stating that they had come for routine work, they said that they advised them to contact Dhaka to get necessary information about the port.

Earlier, the last time former chairman of Bangladesh Land Ports Authority KM Tariqul Islam visited the port on January 19, 2021.