Not a single truckload of goods arrive at Attari from Pakistan, courtesy demonetization

There was no import of goods from Pakistan on Thursday, the consecutive second day after the suspension of work by porters at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Attari, as majority of Indian traders have asked Pakistani traders to freeze the movement of trucks until the cash flow normalises in India.

According to sources, not even a single truckload of goods arrived from Pakistan at the ICP on Thursday since the service providers appointed by the Centre Warehousing Corporation has been left with paltry cash to pay the porters for the loading and unloading of goods.

Notably, the porters went on an indefinite strike Wednesday demanding their wages in cash. "We had paid wages to those porters who have shared their bank details with us. But out of nearly 1,433 porters, only a few has shared their accounts and the rest of them want to be paid in cash," said sources at ICP.

Shubegh Singh, former president of a porters' union at Attari, said, "All porters are not interested to get payment in cheques but want cash wages."

He alleged that there were some porter leaders who didn't want all the porters to have their bank accounts and were exploiting the situation. "All the 1,433 porters should have bank accounts, and wages will directly be transferred into their account," he said.