| Petrapole | |
| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | West Bengal |
| District(s) | North 24 Parganas |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 6 metres (20 ft) |
| Website | north24parganas.nic.in/ |
Petrapole (Bengali: পেট্রাপোল) is the Indian side of Petrapole-Benapole border checkpoint between India and Bangladesh. It is also referred to as Haridaspur border check post.
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Petrapole is in the district of North 24 Parganas and is about 95 km from Kolkata on the National Highway 35. The nearest town and passenger rail head is Bongaon.
Petrapole border is the only land port in south Bengal. It is also the largest land customs station in Asia. According to study by RITES, the goods traffic is approximately 400 trucks per day both ways, while the 2006 passenger traffic was about 1,159 people per day (both incoming and outgoing). The total traffic in 2029-30 has been projected as 2,938 trucks per day and the passenger traffic by then will be 3,924 people per day. [1]
The Petrapole-Benapole rail link was opened in 2001 after being closed for 26 years. [2] There is a proposal to construct a by-pass road to ease congestion on the present road, connecting Benapole to NH 35, bypassing Bangaon. [3]