Bangladesh and India have issued guidelines for their citizens after Dhaka decided to close the land borders for movements.
India has asked its citizens living in Bangladesh to contact in advance if they need to travel home during the closure of land borders.
The government on Sunday shut the land borders for the next two weeks to prevent the spread of the new variant of coronavirus.
The Indian High Commission said the Bangladesh authorities have assured them that consideration will be given to assist all Indian nationals in Bangladesh who need to enter India.
“The specific process in such cases is being worked out with the Bangladesh authorities. In the meantime, however, those Indians who need to travel home to India may send tentative travel plans by email to the High Commission at cons1.dhaka@mea.gov.in and cons.dhaka@mea.gov.in.”
“Please do provide all relevant details such as name, Passport no, Visa no, email address, BD contact no. and place of exit (Benapole/Akhuara) well in advance of their date of journey,” read the statement from the Indian High Commission.
Earlier, an inter-ministerial meeting on Sunday took the decision that from 6am of 26 April 2021 to 6pm of 9 May 2021, general movements of humans between Bangladesh and India will temporarily stay suspended through the land ports.
The Bangladeshi citizens currently traveling to India for treatment and having visas with validity for less than 15 days could enter Bangladesh through only Benapole, Akhaura and Burimari after taking permission from Bangladesh Missions in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Agartala and with a mandatory Covid-negative certificate done through PCR test within seventy-two hours of entry.
People entering Bangladesh through this process would have to stay officially quarantined for two weeks. Except for the aforementioned three land ports, all kinds of human movements through all other land ports between the two countries would completely stay suspended for two weeks, the foreign ministry said.
The vehicles carrying imported goods from India would have to be properly sterilized before entering Bangladesh borders. The concerned drivers and helpers would have to observe the Covid-19 safety protocol strictly.
Railroads would be encouraged for export and import of goods between the two countries in this period.
Bangladesh Missions in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala would convey the relevant information in this regard to the concerned authorities in India in the light of the friendly relations between the two countries.
The above decisions would be in effect for two weeks and would be revised in due time. It may here be mentioned that Bangladesh is operating special flights to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Singapore to facilitate departure of expatriate workers to those countries.
