Transport operations at the Petrapole border in North 24 Parganas have been disrupted for around 36 hours following a dispute between worker groups over the distribution of loading and unloading work, slowing India-Bangladesh cargo movement and affecting nearly 1,000 workers, according to a report by Anandabazar. Loading and unloading inside the land port is continuing at a reduced pace, while workers remain in protest outside the border complex.
The dispute centres on competing claims over work allocation among the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and other labour organisations operating at Petrapole. The report said the conflict has brought political divisions involving Union Minister of State for Shipping Shantanu Thakur and West Bengal Food Minister Ashok Kirtania into the worker organisations associated with the border’s cargo-handling operations. Neither minister had responded to the report at the time of publication.
According to the report, an arrangement dating back to 2011 had divided work among several labour organisations. Under that arrangement, INTUC was allocated 15 per cent, CITU 22 per cent, Bangla CITU 8 per cent and INTTUC 8 per cent, with the remaining work assigned to BMS. Worker representatives said the earlier arrangement had been followed by different organisations for years, but that the system had recently come under strain.
The report said Kirtania held a meeting with the Land Ports Authority manager and BMS leaders during a visit to Petrapole. Following that meeting, BMS workers were reportedly to receive 78 per cent of the work, while workers from other states were to receive 22 per cent. The BMS subsequently split into two groups, according to the report, leading to a fresh dispute over the distribution of the organisation’s share.
Thakur later held a meeting with the manager of the Petrapole land port and reportedly proposed a different allocation. Under that arrangement, CITU would receive 30 per cent and BMS 70 per cent. The BMS share was further divided into 50 per cent for BMS-1 and 20 per cent for BMS-2. BMS Bongaon town committee secretary Rajib Goswami opposed the decision, saying that the organisation was a single entity and that no minister had the authority to divide it into two groups for work allocation. He also questioned the proposed share for CITU and warned of a wider protest.
Bongaon truck loading-unloading workers’ union president Amit Basu told Anandabazar that different worker organisations had been operating at Petrapole since 1991. He said the present dispute involved not only the internal conflict within BMS but also dissatisfaction over wages and work distribution. Basu claimed that around 90 per cent of workers had decided not to work, while a smaller number had supported continuing operations.
Worker families began protesting in the Jayantipur area, with a sit-in continuing through Monday night and women joining demonstrations on Tuesday, the report said. Kartik Chakraborty, secretary of the Petrapole port’s Clearing and Forwarding Association, said cargo handling inside the border was moving slowly and that the situation had not returned to normal. The next official step to restore full operations and resolve the competing work-allocation claims was not specified in the report.
