BBIN pact: Cargo reaches Delhi from Bangladesh under trial run

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) In a first, a cargo truck fromBangladesh with Delhi-bound consignment reached here under thetrial run of a trans-national pact to allow seamless movementof traffic among India and its three neighbouring countries. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) in June lastsigned the agreement in Thimphu to facilitate cross-bordermovement of both passenger and cargo vehicles in thesub-region. "History was written at the Inland Customs Depot inPatparganj in East Delhi today when for the first time a cargotruck from Bangladesh drove in with a Delhi-bound consignment,having come seamlessly through customs free borders," RoadTransport and Highways Ministry said in a statement. The truck of Nazrul Transport Agency and Expo Freight PvtLtd from Bangladesh was despatched from Dhaka on August 27 aspart of a trial run under the Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal(BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA). "The trial run was organised to help develop the protocolsfor implementing the Agreement. The cargo vehicle started itsjourney from Dhaka and reached at Petrapole on August 28,2016, and Kolkata on August, 29 2016. In India it travelled through the states of West Bengal,Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi travellingmore than 1850 km to reach the Custom Depot at Patparganj inNew Delhi today. The consignment did not have to undergo any customsclearance at the border. "The truck was issued an E-permit for the trial runthrough an online web based system. This will help establish acustomer friendly process acceptable to and recognised by allBBIN countries," the statement said. Instead, the statement said, when it reached the firstIndian customs station at border point Petrapole, anelectronic seal with GPS tracking device was fixed on thetruck so that the goods could be inspected for customclearance at Delhi rather than at the border. An electronic online vehicle tracking system was alsoinstalled in the truck that facilitated real time monitoringof its progress. The four countries, at present, are negotiating protocolsto implement the agreement for passenger and cargo vehiclesseparately. PTI NAMMR