Kolkata, Jan 9 (PTI) Exporters on Wednesday claimed that the revised parking fees of vehicles carrying cargo at land ports set by the West Bengal government are extremely high and have a negative impact on export business.
The state government has also decided to take direct control of the parking lots at land ports, which has been under the respective local bodies, according to a notification.
“The land and all other infrastructure of already handed over parking areas maintained by the local bodies will immediately be taken over by the Transport Department at all the International Borders in phases after observing legal formalities,” the notification said.
No parking area can be used on a commercial basis on any land within 15 kilometres from the zero point of the International Border without prior permission, it said.
The revised fee ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 400 for the first 24 hours of parking, followed by an hourly rate that varies from Rs 10 to Rs 50, according to the notification.
The state government said the step has been taken to improve the parking lots and truck movement management at international borders. Currently, parking income which runs into crores go to local bodies.
The locations where the new system will come up are Petrapole, Bangaon and Ghojadanga (North 24-Parganas district), Changrabandha (Cooch Behar), Fulbari (Jalpaiguri), Hilli (South Dinajpur) and Mahadipur (Malda), Jaigaon (Alipurduar) and Panitanki (Darjeeling). While the first seven are along the India-Bangladesh border, Jaigaon and Panitanki lie on the Bhutan and Nepal borders respectively.
Boangoan Municipality is estimated to earn Rs 3-3.5 crore per month as parking fees from the Kalitala Parking lot.
Exporters and truckers are not happy with the revised parking fee structure.
“The state government after taking over raised the parking fees nearly 300 per cent. It is not acceptable and we may lose export competitiveness,” Mahadipur Exporters Association secretary Prasonjit Ghosh told PTI.
Bongaon Goods Transport Association has written to the government opposing the hike and said its members are not capable of paying such a high rate of fees.
Former president of Petrapole Exporters and Importers Welfare Association, Paritosh Biswas, said the organisation expects that the government will review the steep hike.
Customs officials said greater transparency can be expected after the change and will help bilateral trade. PTI BSM NN NN