Benapole port starts collecting Tk1,000 travel tax

Benapole port on Saturday started collecting Tk1,000 travel tax, double the previous amount of Tk500, from passengers crossing the border between India and Bangladesh at Jashore.

Abdul Jalil, director of Benapole Port, said, "In the proposed budget for FY24, the travel tax has been fixed at Tk1,000, which has been implemented in Benapole port from Saturday. Earlier, passengers could travel by paying Tk500."

Thousands of Bangladeshi passengers go to India through Benapole port for medical, educational, travel, and business purposes every day, while many Indian citizens also come to Bangladesh for different purposes.

Many passengers at Benapole port said they faced difficulties due to doubling the travel tax and demanded the withdrawal of increased travel tax.

Krishnapada, an Indian citizen travelling through Benapole port, told TBS, "I came to visit a relative's house in Gopalganj on 20 June. At that time I had to pay Tk500 travel tax and Tk52 port fee, but only around 10 days later – today (Saturday) I had to pay Tk1,000 travel tax and Tk52 port to return to India."

A Bangladeshi passenger going to India through Benapole said withdrawing the increased travel tax will increase the number of people travelling between Bangladesh and India.

According to a customs source, the travel tax for passengers up to 12 years of age has been halved. Apart from this, passengers aged five years and below, blind persons, cancer patients, stretcher users, and disabled persons can travel to India without any travel tax.

Other land ports were already charging the increased tax.