The fruit was imported from India to Benapole port on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Earlier, on January 29, the Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Imports Association called for a strike at a press conference.
Due to the strike, fruit imports through this land port were closed for two days last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the work at Benapole port has resumed as fruit imports have resumed. The two-day closure of the port has caused losses to traders and deprived the government of about Tk 50 crore in revenue. About 100 trucks of fruit are imported from India every day. Sajedur Rahman, general secretary of the Benapole C&F Agent Staff Association, confirmed this information.
He said, no fruit was imported to Benapole port due to the strike of the 'Bangladesh Fresh Fruits Importers' Association' as the demand for withdrawal of additional supplementary duty on fruit imports was not met. Fruit imports have resumed after the strike was called off. The traders started importing fruits again after two days, thinking about the government's revenue and the suffering of the general buyers. However, the traders said that they will call for an indefinite strike if the increased 10 percent duty is not withdrawn by February 14.
Benapole Land Port Director Md. Shamim Hossain said that after two days of ban on fruit import through Benapole Land Port due to demand for withdrawal of additional duty, fruit import through Benapole Land Port resumed last Thursday. In the last three days, 175 trucks of fruit have been imported through this port and after inspecting the goods from this port, the fruit trucks were quickly released after collecting revenue.
