Operations at the Benapole Land Port resumed from Sunday after a suspension for four days.
According to Benapole port sources, eight organizations, including transport workers, held several meetings with the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Petrapole land port authority.
A government notification was issued on Thursday by the Petrapole land port authority, following which, the organizations including transport workers associated with the port decided to resume import-export considering the issue of government directives.
Trade at the Petrapole-Benapole was halted from January 31 after the importers and exporters started a movement indefinitely on several demands including harassment by BSF, not being allowed to enter the port, legalization of vehicle papers for six months etc.
Kartik Chakraborty, secretary of the Petrapole Clearing and Staff Welfare Association said they had a long meeting with the customs office in Kolkata on Wednesday. The clearing agents briefed the senior officials of the customs department about the demands in the meeting.
The Petrapole land port authorities then issued a written notice on Thursday.
On the other hand, Petrapole Port Manager Kamlesh Sahani said that BSF had recently recovered gold, dollars, cannabis and fake licenses from foreign trade trucks at the border.
“The central government has directed to issue some rules at the border in the interest of the country. Arrangements are being made to introduce common i-cards to truck drivers and others,” he said.
The application form for the i-cards has to be submitted by February 15, he added.
According to a notification issued on Thursday, it has been informed that even if the truck drivers and the others do not have a common i-card as per the instructions of the central government, the import-export will continue for next one month as per the previous rule.
Truck drivers and unloaders have to carry an Aadhaar card or voter ID card for entry in the parking lot.
