Majerhat bridge collapse: KoPT booster for exim trade

Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) Saturday held a meeting with trade stakeholders and offered relaxations to mitigate the impact on exim trade following the collapse of Majerhat bridge earlier this week, officials said.

Most of the trucks which plies in the Kolkata port are of 18 wheelers or less, so the ban on trucks imposed by the state government will not have a major impact on port cargo, they said.

Following Tuesday's collapse of the 50-year-old Majerhat bridge that killed three people and left several injured, the state government has imposed a ban from September 10 on entry and exit of 20-wheeler and above heavy vehicles in the city.

"Today, we held a meeting with the trade stakeholders to understand their demand in the wake of the bridge collapse crisis. Based on their demands, we have decided to offer a few relaxations and trying to build an ecosystem that will help overcome the crisis and minimise the impact on trade," KoPT Chairman Vinit Kumar told PTI.

The relaxations include extending the number of days to clear the imported cargo from port, keeping port office open at night and convince the customs department to work at night hours since truck movement will only be at night from now on.

Kumar said already movement restrictions are getting relaxed in a phased manner and it will get better over the next few days after the alternate roads get repaired and strengthened by both KoPT and state agencies to ease city vehicle congestion.

Asked about the impact of state government's decision to bar the entry and exit of heavy goods vehicles from the Kolkata Port area from September 10, Kumar said the port is monitoring the situation and trying to find ways to overcome the issue.

Calcutta Customs House Agents Association former president Sujit Chakraborty said that 22-wheeler trailers will be not more than 150 in number in Kolkata port out of the 3,000-4,000 trucks that operate daily, while the rest are 18 wheelers on which there are no restrictions.

"Still some 7,000 containers are lying at the port and we had sought more parking space owing to movement restriction to clear the congestion," he said.

Chakraborty said the KoPT chairman had been extremely pro-active to act instantly, and more meetings will be held as the situation unfolds.