Immigration activities at Zakiganj Land Customs Station in Sylhet resumed after two and a half years on Saturday.
Activities at the station were suspended during the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
Shahriar Morshed Choudhury, in charge of the checkpost, told Dhaka Tribune that three people crossed the border on Sunday and six the next day through the land port.
After the immigration post opened on Saturday, people started crossing the border from Sunday, he further said. Local traders said that there is a police station not too far from the post and also there are several branches of different banks, making the post a potential border crossing point between India and Bangladesh. They said that traders from Sylhet use this land port to import raw material.
Freedom Fighter Akram Ali told Dhaka Tribune that the land port has played a key role in the economic context of Sylhet since November 22, 1971 when it was first opened.
He said that patients and importers had been facing trouble due to the suspension of immigration activities at the port.
He said that local people were forced to write to the home ministry, explaining their situation, and urging that the customs station be reactivated.
