More than 300 Bangladeshis stuck at India’s Petrapole port

More than 300 Bangladeshis got stuck in India's Petrapole land port yesterday, as Bangladesh government on Sunday closed the border with India, due to a huge surge in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring country. 

Many of the Bangladeshis stuck on the other side are patients or students.

Benapole Immigration Officer-in-Charge Ahsan Habib said he received a letter to keep borders with India closed for the next 14 days.

But according to the letter, if anyone has special permission from the high commissioner, there will be no bar to travel.

Export-import between the two countries remains normal, said Benapole Land Port Acting Director Abdul Jalil.

He also said no passenger from Bangladesh can enter India, as per instruction of the government. Passengers from India cannot enter Bangladesh as well.

Benapole Immigration Health Department Medical Officer Habibur Rahman said 570 Bangladeshi passengers came from India on Sunday, and of them, three were diagnosed with Covid-19.

They contracted the virus in India and are now undergoing treatment at Jashore Sadar Hospital's Covid-19 unit.

Other than that, 11 passengers among 570 people who could not show any Covid-19 negative certificate were sent to Benapole Rajnigandha residential hotel for institutional quarantine, the official said.

Earlier, upon the recommendation of the health directorate, passenger travel from India to Bangladesh via land was suspended for 14 days, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen.

Already, air travel between India and Bangladesh has been suspended since April 14 with the beginning of second wave of Covid-19 from the second week of March in Bangladesh.