SILIGURI: Many traders have closed down their shops at Panitanki following the closure of the India-Nepal border for the last 14 months due to the pandemic.
Grappling with financial constraints, these traders had to leave their rented accommodations since they could no longer afford the rent for their shops with practically no business.
Many have switched to other jobs.
Even truck drivers refuse to travel to Nepal due to the restrictions.
Dipak Chakraborty, joint secretary of Panitanki Byabsayee Samity, who runs a cycle business, said that with the border being sealed for 14 months, just 50 out of the total 1,210 shops were doing business now while the rest had closed down.
He rued that before the pandemic, he used to sell around 1,000 cycles a month but now the sale has come down to just four.
the sealed checkpost“Panitanki market attracts 60% of its customers from Nepal and the rest from India.
When trade was open between India and Nepal, each shop would earn around Rs 4 lakh a month.
But now their monthly earning has come down to Rs 14,000.
Shops are open from 7am to 10am and from noon to 3pm but there are hardly any customers.
We hope that the border will be operational soon, otherwise our livelihood will be at stake,” said Chakraborty.
Ashok Goswami, a cloth trader at Panitanki, said, “I had no option other than leaving my rented shop.
There is no business as the border is sealed but the shop owner demanded full rent.
Now, I have no earning and am dependent on my two sons.” The officials of the Indian Immigration Check Post at Raniganj said that traffic movement along the border came to a halt on March 21 last year while the movement of goods vehicles stopped on April 8 last year.
Relaxation to goods vehicles along the border at Panitanki was given from May 8, 2020.
A 96km stretch of the border in the region is guarded by 41 Battalion and 8 Battalion, Sashastra Seema Bal.