Emphasising that there are local emotive issues among the people against the resumption of Indo-Bangladesh trade at Petrapole land border, the West Bengal government on May 9 suggested an alternative route.
Speaking to journalists at the State Secretariat, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said that the locals were fearing a “contagion” and the railway route from Gede (Nadia) and Darsana (Bangladesh) would be “ more safe” for transport of goods.
Trade at the international land border at Petrapole in North 24 Parganas started on April 30 but closed after a few days due to protest by locals. A few days ago, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha saying that “unilateral action on the part of the government of West Bengal to stop cross-land border movement of essential goods would have larger implications for the Indian government with regard to its legally binding international commitments”.
11 COVID-19 deaths
Meanwhile, West Bengal has recorded 11 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the number of deaths to 171. Ten deaths were reported from Kolkata alone, taking the city’s toll to 116.
With 108 new cases in the past 24 hours, the number of cases climbed to 1,786. The number of active cases being treated in the hospital remains at 1,243. 48 people were discharged from different health facilities in the past 24 hours and the total number of people discharged stands at 372. The State has tested 3,601 samples in the past one day and the total number of samples went up to 39, 368.
