Sonahat Land Port in the district has been facing tough time as the running countrywide hartal and blockade programmes have pushed it to a big trouble state.
The untoward situation appeared when the vehicular plying on the highways limited in fear of possible petrol bomb attacks or vandalism by blockaders or pickets.
Consequently, not only the businessmen were incurring loss also the port authorities failed to reach tax collection benchmark owing to the harmful political activities.
Besides, the workers involving the port were passing their idle time because of lessening hustle and bustle there.
While visiting, the correspondent found that huge quantity of coal and stone was piled up on the port premises for long.
One coal importer named Nabidul Islam said none was eager to purchase and carry their goods by leaving their lives amid a great risk as petrol bomb attacks have become common scenario since the starting of the political programmes called by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
It was learnt that the land port is situated in Bhurungamari upazila, near Gulakganj police station area of Assam state in India. It had been closed during the 1947 India-Pakistan separation and finally the government opened the land port again in 2013 and since then basically coal and stone were being imported into the country from the neighbouring country via it.
Khalilur Rahman, customs inspector of Sonahat Land port, said they had collected excise tax above Tk1 crore in December last year while the figure stood at just Tk1.71 crore in January and February this year together.
The BNP-Jamaat alliance enforced hartals and blockade led to the decrease in tax collection, the inspector went on.
Sonahat Land Port Importers-Exporters Samity General Secretary Abdur Razzak said activities at the port have lessened alarmingly due to hartal and blockade caused transport crisis. As a result, the businessmen were incurring huge amid the suffocating economic situation.
On the other hand, particularly coal businessmen have been pushed to sell their products at low price than usual as the season was left only for one and a half months, the leader continued.
Sonahat Land Port Load-Unload handling Samity President Anwar said recurrent hartals and blockade have made them workless. “Since the situation continues, the would face tough time,” the president also said.