BIRGUNJ, July 18: People from both Nepal and India are facing trouble for their cross movement due to lack of proper traffic management in Raxaul border point. The locals have complained that they were facing problems in the movement as Raxaul Railway Siding and Integrated Customs Post (ICP) were running in poor management.
Raxaul based Chamber of Commerce president, Arun Kumar Gupta, said that lack of efficient management of traffic on the Indian side was causing difficulty to pass the vehicles through the border point. He further shared that the Indian side was ignoring their frequent request to manage the traffic by improving the concerned offices there.
Similarly, in the words of Raxaul based trader Shyam Lama, the vehicles are found stranded four to five hours at the border point. He added that an overhead bridge is essential to manage the traffic but Indian side is reluctant in this regard however it has been decided earlier by Indian government.
According to Lama, a road section has been constructed from Raxaul to Birgunj dry port but it is yet to be operated, therefore there is no alternate road section to lessen the traffic congestion.
Pointing out that the Indian government should immediately construct overhead bridges as there is always jam at the area due to railway crossing, former President of Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pradeep Kedia, said that people have been facing problems as barrier remains closed for long at the time of arrival of the train freight.
He expressed the belief that the problems would be resolved automatically after the operation of Integrated Check Post (ICP) within a few days.
Businessmen complained that their imported goods get damaged in lack of management at Indian railway crossing and they have to pay high amount of demurrage charge as they failed to make the railway siding vacant on time as Indian and Nepali customs offices remain closed from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am.
Birgunj Custom Office collects around Rs 300 million every day and some 1,500 vehicles make to and from through this custom check point.
Information Officer of Birgunj Customs Office, Santosh Yadav, said that such problems would not be resolved until the operation of IPC.
Businessmen of both countries demand that the Indian government should be serious to improve the road condition as there was high possibility of road accidents and physical infrastructures should be developed to make Raxaul and Birgunj check points systematic. RSS