Land ports money vending machines?

A report by this newspaper on malpractices at the Benapole international passenger terminal shows how a customs system bedevilled by corruption and mismanagement is holding travellers hostage. According to an estimate, in April 2018 alone, some 1.32 lakh people went to India using the Benapole land port while about 92,434 entered Bangladesh through the Petrapole Customs station, which is on the Indian side of the border. Often the travellers have to bribe their way into the terminal. There are also allegations of lax monitoring. But money can move a lot of walls, and nowhere has this been truer than in Benapole. The sheer number of people crossing this checkpoint for travel and trade purposes is reason enough for a shift away from the laissez-faire attitude to public sufferings by the port authorities, who have been consistently resistant to calls for transparency and accountability.

Our report also mentions that travellers have to face harassment on the Indian side of the border as well. It's important to remember that border is a sensitive place. Its integrity should be preserved at all costs. When money talks, security and surveillance can become a secondary consideration. While we hope the Indian authorities would address the problems facing Bangladeshi travellers, we call upon the Bangladesh Land Port Authority (BLPA), which operates Benapole and all other border ports, to get its affairs in order by taking firm action against all excesses and malpractices by the immigration officers and rectify its service delivery mechanism.