Bhutanese farmers struggle as they find it hard to export vegetables to India at the Jaigaon crossing point in India's West Bengal. They have been asked by Indian officials to furnish required papers from the Bhutanese government, media reports say. 

Vegetables export from Bhutan to India was allowed only until 31 January, Kuensel newspaper reported citing Indian officials. The matter needs to be solved at the government level, an Indian official said. 

Bhutanese authorities are believed to be in touch with Indian officials from the Indian embassy in Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital. 

As exports were not resumed in the last three days, farmers have started dumping vegetables at Phuentsholing, a border district in Bhutan. 

Since the introduction of the GST system in India, cross-border trade of vegetables and other items has been disrupted at repeated intervals. In July last year, vegetable export via Jaigaon came to an abrupt halt when it was the peak time for farmers to export using Phuentsholing as the route.

In October last year, export of potatoes was stopped similarly as it was not listed in the Indian list of imported items.  

The report says that Bhutan submitted last year a comprehensive list of items for export to India. However, the latter asked Bhutan to scale down the exportable items to just five. 

(SAM)