Bhutan importers have decided to send trucks registered in the Himalayan country to Alipurduar district to bring goods from godowns.

The move has helped in cutting down the transportation costs incurred by the buyers and sellers. Earlier, goods from Jaigaon, Kalchini and Alipurduar — all in the same district —had been exported to Bhutan through trans-loading. Indian trucks used to carry goods to bordering towns of Bhutan like Phuentsholing and Pasakha.

From there, the goods were loaded onto Bhutanese trucks and similar heavy vehicles for their onward transportation to various locations in the country.

“The development is important in many ways. First, we are saving around Rs 5,000 per truck. Second, it is taking less time to despatch the goods to Bhutan as the hassle of trans-shipment is no longer there,” said Rakesh Pandey, the president of the Kalchini Chamber of Commerce.

These days, around 50 trucks carry goods to Bhutan from Alipurduar. Items like vegetables, food grains and confectioneries, tea, crockery, utensils, linen and furniture are exported to the neighbouring country every day.

The border trade with Bhutan had been affected in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid-19. As only essential items were carried to the country, hundreds of traders of Jaigaon — the town that shares the border with Phuentsholing, the commercial capital of Bhutan — and adjoining areas had to suffer for around two years.

In fact, the situation reached such an extent that a number of exporters sold their shops and godowns in Jaigaon and left for their home states and districts. The tourism sector also suffered as the neighbouring country imposed restrictions on the entry of foreign visitors.

“The trade resumed in a full-fledged manner few months ago. We had gone through a critical time and the new transport arrangement is of course helping us as we can save money,” said a prominent trader of Jaigaon.

He said earlier, exporters used to arrange Bhutanese trucks on the border to reload the goods from Indian trucks, along with manpower. “On many occasions, it would take hours to make the arrangement and fragile goods would get damaged because of repeated handling. Also, we would have to monitor the entire process of trans-loading. Now, trucks from Bhutan are directly coming to our godowns. After the goods are being loaded, the vehicles are moving into the country and reaching the capital city of Thimphu and other far-flung places,” the trader added.

“In some cases, importers had to bear such costs. As the expenses have come down, there is a marginal reduction in the prices of the items which we export to Bhutan,” said a member of the Jaigaon Merchants’ Association.