India halts entry of Bangladeshis

Desperate Bangladeshis from Indian cities, especially from Vellore and Kolkata, cut short their visits to return home while India-bound people with medical visa are barred from entering the country through the land ports under a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic. 

Flights between major cities of Bangladesh and India were also suspended due to the virus. 

Bangladeshis in India said that they collected tickets for home following the Indian authorities announced on Thursday that existing visas would remain  suspended till April 15, 2020 from 6:00pm on March 13.

No new visa would be issued from March 13, it said.

Diplomatic, official, United Nations or international organisation, employment and project visas are not under the suspension order, according to the announcement.

Bangladesh Railway, however, was yet to take any decision as to when it would suspend its train communication with Indian city Kolkaka, said railway ministry officials.

On Friday, Maitree Express left Dhaka for Kolkata with 144 passengers and returned with 312.

Railway director public relations Shafiqur Rahman said that the train would leave Dhaka for Kolkata today.

Another rail official said that as many people were still in India they would continue their train service as long as the immigration department permitted them to carry passengers to and from India.  

The railway hung a notice at the Kalamapur station saying that the decision on refunding the ticket money would be notified on Monday next.

The New Age correspondent in Jashore said that the country’s largest land port Benapole turned into a deserted place after 5:00pm on Friday.

No Bangladeshis were allowed to enter Indian after the time.

Ahsan Hahib, the officer in-charge of the Benapole immigration police, said that 7,500 people travelled to and from Bangladesh through Benapole on Friday as there was a mad rush in the morning.

‘Very few people came to the port for going to India,’ he added.

Immigration officials, however, said that those who had gone to India and had entered Bangladesh from India would be given the chance to enter their respective counties.

And the export –import activities between the two countries would run as usual, they said.

Mohsin Milon, the joint secretary of the Benapole Customs Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association, said that the land port looked like a deserted place in the evening.

Airlines said that Bangladeshi operators Novo Air, US-Bangla, Regent and Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Indian operators Indigo, SpiceJet and Air India operated 16 flights daily from and to Dhaka and Chattogram to and from Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai and other cities.

Biman and Novo Air said that they would suspend all of their flights between Dhaka and Indian cities from Saturday.

According to the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation, every year 7.5 lakh people, on an average, travel between India and Bangladesh by air while the Indian High Commission in Dhaka issued 16 lakh visas for Bangladeshis in 2019, mostly for medical and tourism purposes.

The New Age correspondent in Brahmanbaria reported that the Aagartala immigration authority in India suspended visits to India through the Akhaura land port from Thursday afternoon.

A man named Manjur Morshed travelled from Chattogram to cross the international border through the Akhaura port at Friday noon but the Indian authorities did not allow him.

He said that his flight to Chennai was fixed for March 18 but he wanted to cross the border beforehand for medical treatment, but finally missed his chance.

Many other people who gathered there from different districts to cross the border for treatment in Indian cities were too not let in by the Indian immigration despite repeated attempts.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh on Friday formed a special taskforce comprising several groups for a smooth conduct of the health screening of all in-bound passengers at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

The taskforce would oversee the health screening activities at the airport round the clock, said Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan, the HSIA director.

The taskforce would comprise 20 Ansar members, five supervisors and two inspectors, said Touhid.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net