The last day at Petropole turned out to be as jampacked as the previous few days we had spent on this Indo-Bangladesh border town. Thanks to the labour dispute between contractors and unloading/loading labour on the Bangladesh side, there was no export/import between these two SAARC neighbours.
Naturally, Petropole remained a ghost town for the third consecutive day. One last trip, said colleague Alam. Now we had managed to bargain and avail Bongaon-Petropole autoride at Rs.70 instead of Rs.100 on day one! Almost all autodrivers at both ends knew our presence in their midst. Our popularity among Customs and driving community also ensured that we got a fair deal.
Post breakfast, we stepped out for our meetings with Customs House Agents (CHAs), the vital link in any foreign trade. Manufacturer or merchandise exporter/importer may do all that is necessary. Transporters and fleet owners may deploy trucks to haul the stuff to the border town.
But to get the paper work done at the Customs is the sole responsibility of CHAs. Without them, your sale/purchase is as good as non-existent. Loaded with tonnes of paper, gotten from their headquarters in Kolkota, these worker bees move mountains of papers at the Customs to ensure goods actually move out of Indian territory into Bangladesh or vice versa.
There are hundreds of CHAs, operating out of 5 x 8 dungeon offices, bang opposite Customs office at Petropole. They know as much as Customs officials know about various sub sections and legal provisions of foreign trade.
With Mumbai-based Alistair of Bianca Logistics who handles Mahindra & Mahindra's generators export to Bangladesh - who incidentally was introduced to us my Chairman of Gurgaon-based South Eastern Carriers Yash Pal Jain (a well wisher and a source of knowledge to me on transportation and logistics) - we zeroed in on Dilip Bachaar (see pix above) of JK Overseas in Petropole. Gautam Pandya, another CHA from Kolkota also referred us to DB.
Having spoken to him over the past two days, we landed up at his tiny office. He willingly made us go through the paper formalities that enable export patiently while Alam took volumnious notes. Fifteen years of hard labour has made him a good source of information.
He guides us to Gopal Ghosh (see pix above) of TCI Freight next door, another veteran. Next in line was our telecon with Samar Das of J L Goward & Co, another CHA, who was in Kolkota since the border is closed for trade. He handles M&M tractors movement between these two countries.
One last trip, we made to Deputy Commissioner U C Das's office where he greeted us in his T-shirt. He was in a very relaxed mood and cheerful. Not because there was less work, but due to the fact that he got trasnsferred to Kolkota, his hometown and he would be packing his bag and baggage within a week's time!
One final government of India free lunch for us before we shook hands with as many Superintendents of Customs as we could meet and stepped out.
Our next halt was the Integrated Check Post (ICP) just behind the sprawling CWC Parking Lot and just across the Indo-Bangladesh railway track manned by Border Security Force.
SVEC Project Head Raman Bhowmick and RITES officer Suraj Srivastava (see pix above) spent 30 minutes explaining what was going on at the site. Approach road to the proposed ICP may be an issue that needs sorting out. We saw the complete model of ICP. Also witnessed ground levelling, filling up of a water area ('not a pond!') and other activities. Earlier, Deputy Commissioner had indicated a team is coming to visit the ICP over the next two days.
We got out and reached our Bongaon guest house around half past three, checked out and boarded our taxi for Kolkota.
By eight, we were safely resting at a lodge, hardly a stone's throw away from the famous Howrah Bridge.
Over the next few days, our engagement will be confined to Kolkota: customs, Dunkuni transport park, exporters, transporters etc.
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