Trade between India and Pakistan through the only Integrated Check Post (ICP) at the Wagah-Attari border has come to a halt after labourers on the Indian side went on strike over payment issues, officials said on Wednesday.
“Wage-wary loading/ unloading labourers refused to work and blockaded the passage of trucks carrying Pakistani gypsum after Indian authorities withdrew charges on consignments that did not involve physical/manual handling,” Customs personnel at Wagah told The News.
“More than 4 kilometre long queues of trucks can be seen on the GT Road on Pakistan side, while the situation on the Indian side is no different except for the fact that the lines of vehicles awaiting entry are somewhat shorter.”
Custom officials added that the Indian labourers were not happy with the official revision of charges issued on September 11, 2017.
The trade impasse is also a cause of concern for the Indian importers. Rajdeep Uppal, an importer from India, said that consignments worth almost US $47 million were stuck across the borders.
“The Land Ports Authority of India and the CWC are unable to resolve the matter,” Uppal said. Aftab Vohra, convener of the Standing Committee on Bilateral Indo-Pak Trade in Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said the issue is likely to be resolved in a day or two.
“Our counterparts in India are in negotiations with the Centre Warehousing Corporation and labourers to resolve the matter amicably”, Vohra said. Anil Mehra, president of Federation of Dry Fruit and Karyana Commercial Association in India said almost 2,000 handlers work at the ICP.
“Previously they were overseen by the customs department but later came under the Centre Warehousing Corporation after the operationalisation of the Integrated Check Post ,” Mehra informed The News.
He said the problem could be resolved once and for all if the labourers were made a customs issue instead of Centre Warehousing Corporation’s, which was relatively lenient in its approach.
