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EDI snag stalls exports through Petrapole

Our Bureau

CALCUTTA, June 23

EXPORTS to Bangladesh via Petrapole land customs station (LCS) in West Bengal during the last seven days was affected on account of problems on the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) front.

EDI at Petrapole was made functional only recently, and is being used for processing of export bills only at the moment.

Exports during the whole of last week was affected as the system went on the bleep because of power cuts in the remote area, which lasted for more than 40 hours at a stretch.

Trade sources told Business Line that even the back-up systems (read as UPS) have failed because of the prolonged power cuts, perceived as a recurring problem which was now seriously threatening exports through this point.

Highly-placed customs sources said following a high-level meeting at Petrapole today, the problem has been sorted out temporarily for exports to resume with immediate effect.

An additional problem, according to customs, was that EDI generated documents were not being accepted by the Bangladeshi counterparts on the Benapole side of the border, as they have still not switched over to electronic processing of bills of entry.

A major hitch to the smooth functioning of EDI at Petrapole has been the non-posting of NIC (National Informatics Centre) at the LCS on a permanent basis, to attend to technical problems, as and when they occur.

Under any case, it is beyond even the NIC personnel to face a situation of prolonged power cuts, when no work can be done on the system, remarked a customs official at the border point.

Exports through Petrapole LCS during April-February 99-2000 has been put at Rs. 963.77 crores, as compared to Rs. 780.49 crores for the same period of the previous financial year.

The principal items of export include cotton yarn, fabrics and made-ups, plastic and linoleum products, transport equipment, rubber footwear, electronic goods, machinery and instruments and residual engineering items.