Attari October 26:
The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan through Attari-Wagah joint checkpost is all set to take a quantum leap next year with the coming up of India’s first Integrated Checkpost (ICP) at Attari.
Spread over 130 acres and equipped with the state-of-the-art technology, the ICP will be a completely sanitised zone with dedicated terminals for both passengers and cargo. It will provide adequate Customs and immigration counters, ultra-modern scanner, metal detectors, CCTVs, passenger amenities and other related facilities such as currency exchange, Internet facility, warehouse/cold storage, quarantine laboratory, banks, isolation bay, parking, cafeteria and other public utilities in a single modern complex.
At present, 100-150 trucks cross over to Pakistan daily, but with the ICP becoming operational, this number may increase manifold. Assistant Commissioner of the Customs Ashok Kapania said the ICP would drastically cut the time needed for a consignment to cross the border. “If a consignment takes 10-15 minutes to cross over, it will hardly take 5 minutes for the export clearance when the ICP comes up,” he said.
The scanning facility will also get a boost as the ultra-modern scanner, besides taking less time, will also detect drugs, arms and ammunition. The storage facility will also be better as the ICP will facilitate bigger warehouses with proper stacking facility. On the other hand, sources said Pakistan too had built an ICP though on a smaller scale (spread over 9 acres) and it had also been made operational.
Indian exporters here have hailed the government move to facilitate smooth and hassle-free trade between the two countries. However, a key issue on which the bilateral trade depends to a large extent even after the ICP becomes operational is its connectivity to the other side of the border. For this the government needs to take up the matter with Islamabad at the highest level.
At present, there is only one entry and exit gate on the Attari-Wagah border. The gate witnesses heavy rush of tourists due to the retreat parade held every evening. Hence, the gate is closed for a few hours everyday, which affects the flow of people and goods between the two countries.
The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan through Attari-Wagah joint checkpost is all set to take a quantum leap next year with the coming up of India’s first Integrated Checkpost (ICP) at Attari.
Spread over 130 acres and equipped with the state-of-the-art technology, the ICP will be a completely sanitised zone with dedicated terminals for both passengers and cargo. It will provide adequate Customs and immigration counters, ultra-modern scanner, metal detectors, CCTVs, passenger amenities and other related facilities such as currency exchange, Internet facility, warehouse/cold storage, quarantine laboratory, banks, isolation bay, parking, cafeteria and other public utilities in a single modern complex.
At present, 100-150 trucks cross over to Pakistan daily, but with the ICP becoming operational, this number may increase manifold. Assistant Commissioner of the Customs Ashok Kapania said the ICP would drastically cut the time needed for a consignment to cross the border. “If a consignment takes 10-15 minutes to cross over, it will hardly take 5 minutes for the export clearance when the ICP comes up,” he said.
The scanning facility will also get a boost as the ultra-modern scanner, besides taking less time, will also detect drugs, arms and ammunition. The storage facility will also be better as the ICP will facilitate bigger warehouses with proper stacking facility. On the other hand, sources said Pakistan too had built an ICP though on a smaller scale (spread over 9 acres) and it had also been made operational.
Indian exporters here have hailed the government move to facilitate smooth and hassle-free trade between the two countries. However, a key issue on which the bilateral trade depends to a large extent even after the ICP becomes operational is its connectivity to the other side of the border. For this the government needs to take up the matter with Islamabad at the highest level.
At present, there is only one entry and exit gate on the Attari-Wagah border. The gate witnesses heavy rush of tourists due to the retreat parade held every evening. Hence, the gate is closed for a few hours everyday, which affects the flow of people and goods between the two countries.
