Vehicle registration WB Elevation 6 m | Time zone IST (UTC+5:30) Website north24parganas.nic.in | |
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Weather 32°C, Wind S at 19 km/h, 63% Humidity | ||
Petrapole is the Indian side of Petrapole-Benapole border checkpoint between India and Benapole of Bangladesh near Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Petrapole border is the only land port in south Bengal. It is also the largest land customs station in Asia.
Contents
- souhardo wbstc volvo 9400 b7r approaching towards petrapole from benapole
- Location
- Significance
- Communication
- References
souhardo wbstc volvo 9400 b7r approaching towards petrapole from benapole
Location
Petrapole is in the district of North 24 Parganas and is about 95 km from Kolkata on the National Highway 35. The nearest town and passenger rail head is Bongaon.
Significance
This check post accounts for more than half of the $4-billion (nearly double the trade volume with Pakistan) trade with Bangladesh. This is the largest land port of Asia. The landport alone accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh. According to study by RITES, the goods traffic is approximately 400 trucks per day both ways, while the 2006 passenger traffic was about 1,159 people per day (both incoming and outgoing). The total traffic in 2029-30 has been projected as 2,938 trucks per day and the passenger traffic by then will be 3,924 people per day.
Communication
The Petrapole-Benapole rail link was opened in 2001 after being closed for 24 years. There is a proposal to construct a by-pass road to ease congestion on the present road, connecting Benapole to NH 35, bypassing Bangaon.
