RailEnquiry

Amritsar : The offices of agencies involved in different works at Attari-Wagah border, including customs and immigration, are all set to go functional from their new premises at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) tomorrow.These offices were shifted to the ICP today. The trial run of the ICP will begin tomorrow, but being a Sunday there will be no movement of trucks loaded with goods. The ICP will only witness passenger movement on Sunday while the trial run for the cargo movement will start from Monday.Ahead of ICP's inauguration at Attari on April 13, the trading community has demanded that the rail line leading to Pakistan should also be brought into the ICP fold.Talking to The Tribune, CII National Council on Public Policy member Gunbir Singh said: "There exists a railway line near the ICP. To bring it under the ambitious project all that is required is a small extension of the 120-acre ICP onto the rail track. Unless the extension to cover the railway line is done, rail cargo, including perishables like gypsum and cement, shall continue to remain exposed to the vagaries of weather and suffer archaic custom checks".He said the rail movement was still "stuck in babudom" on both sides of the border. "Commodities and chemical imports from Pakistan come in ramshackle wagons and are stored in the open in India due to lack of warehousing space. The Chinese wagons procured by Pakistan have not been cleared by India. The fact that Pakistan is short on rail engines and has asked India to lease 50 to them has not found favour with the Indian authorities. The subsequent situation ensures that goods lie for months due to lack of a coordinated rail interchange," he said.Similarly, Suneet Kochhar, director, Khanna Paper Mill, said opening Attari-Wagah check post for road as well as rail cargo would boost the two-way trade. He also felt that there was a dire need to replace old bogies with new and bigger ones.