Acute space shortage in Hili land port complex

Insufficient space inside Panama Port Link Ltd complex in Hili land port in Hakimpur upazila under the district causes various problems, along with posing the risk of accidents.

Babul Mia, 25, of Nawpara village under Hakimpur upazila was killed as a truck ran over him inside the port complex on Tuesday.

A helper was driving the truck that time, police said.

On July 2, Atul Kumar 20, a helper of an Indian truck, was killed as he was run over by a Bangladeshi truck inside the port complex.

In 2013, two men were killed in the same way, port sources said, adding that several others, most of them port workers, were also injured.

Panama Hili Port Link Ltd in 2006 took over the charge to operate Hili land port for 25 years under Build-Operate-Transfer [BOT] condition, as approved by Bangladesh Land Port Authority.

The complex is set up on a 10-acre area nearly 1.5km from Zero Line of India Bangladesh border.

Seventy percent of the area is used for parking of trucks of India and Bangladesh and the rest 30 percent area comprises administration complex, sheds for loading and unloading goods, warehouses, mosque, and temple.

Port officials said, around 130 goods-laded Indian trucks daily come to Bangladesh on an average, and nearly 150 Bangladeshi trucks come to the complex and leave for elsewhere in the country after loading imported goods.

Besides, 100 to 120 Indian trucks keep waiting inside the port due to shortage of loading and unloading facilities.

The complex has to deal with a large number of people coming for different purposes.

Md SM Haidar, assistant manager of Panama Port Link Ltd, said, "Space shortage inside the port complex causes various problems, including accidents. A section of helpers drive trucks, despite our forbidding through loudspeakers. The district administration of Dinajpur acquired 11.86 acres of land for extension of the port area to solve the existing problems. But the port authority is yet to get the land."