Import rises in last month of 2018-19

Benapole customs officials have started working round the clock to speed up trade activities in June, the last month to meet the revenue collection target for 2018-19.

To boost imports, the customs officers have also been asked to work from 7:00am to 12:00am every day so that more trucks can enter Bangladesh from India, said Mohammad Belal Hossain Chowdhury, customs commissioner of Benapole.

The number of trucks that entered Bangladesh from India has increased significantly in the last three days, said Mamunur Rahman, deputy director of Benapole Port Authority.

“Some 354 Indian trucks entered Bangladesh on Sunday, 445 on Monday and 382 till Tuesday noon while the number hovered between 250 to 270 in the same period last year, thanks to the introduction of scanners and modern facilities in recent times.”

Benapole custom house has so far collected around Tk 4,500 crore in revenue while the target for 2018-19 was Tk 5,185 crore.

Rakibul Alam, manager of Sonali Bank’s Benapole branch, said they collected Tk 11 crore of the port’s revenue on Sunday, Tk 12 crore on Monday and Tk 8 crore till Tuesday noon.

To give pace to the trade activities of the Benapole and Petrapole ports, Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguli also visited the ports on Saturday and stressed the need for joint efforts to boost trade.