Home Minister inugurates first e-gate at Benapole Check Post

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has inaugurated electronic gate (e-gate) at Benapole Immigration Check Post in Jashore.

He inaugurated the e-gate on Saturday (March 4) afternoon.

Six gates have been constructed under the first phase. Three gates have been constructed for entry into India and three for passport passengers coming from India.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the Home Minister recalled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina commitment in 2008 to turn the country into digital Bangladesh.

“She (Prime Minister) introduced Machine Readable Passport (MRP). Today, there are MRPs in everyone’s hands. We entered the MRP era abandoning the hand-written passports,” he said.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said, “Today, we have entered the era of e-Passport at the directive of the prime minister. A renowned German company is assisting us in making e-Passports. Not only e-Passports, the company is also helping us to install e-Gates at immigration checkposts. Today, e-Gate has been inaugurated at Benapole Checkpost.”

The minister said, “We will switch over to e-Visa next. Our airports and landports will be able to provide quick services if we can switch over to e-Visa and receive advanced passenger information. It’s the benefit of Digital Bangladesh introduced by our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Now, we are entering the era of Smart Bangladesh as announced by our prime minister.”

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal inaugurated electronic gate (e-gate) at Benapole Immigration Check Post in Jashore on Saturday (March 4) afternoon.

This will reduce the suffering of passport passengers traveling to India. The gate will open automatically if the passengers simply show their passports at the gate.

It will take only 40 seconds per passenger. Earlier it used to take at least 5 to 10 minutes for passengers to do immigration. No one without a passport can enter through that gate.

Ahsan Habib, officer-in-charge of Benapole Immigration, said, “Some 7,000 passport passengers travel between India and Bangladesh every day through Benapole Check Post. After the inauguration of the e- gate, immigration work will also become easier.”