Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI)

Why in news?

• 10th Foundation Day of the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) has been celebrated in New Delhi.

About Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI):

• Established as a statutory body under the Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs, the Land Ports Authority of India is entrusted with the task of building land ports on India‘s borders and provide state of the art infrastructure facilities to facilitate seamless and efficient movement of cargo and passengers with an overall objective of reducing dwell time and trade transaction costs, promote regional trade and people-to-people contact and imbibe the best international practices.

Genesis:

• Concerned about the inadequate infrastructure at border checkpoints and the lack of a single coordinating body responsible for facilitating cross-border trade and passenger movement across India’s land borders, the Committee of Secretaries in 2003 recommended setting up of Integrated Check Posts (ICPs)
• These ICPs were planned to house all the regulatory agencies like Immigration, Customs, Border Security etc. together with support facilities in a single complex to serve as a single-window facility as is prevalent at Airports and Seaports.
• LPAI intends to provide safe, secure and systematic facilities for movement of cargo as well passengers at its ICPs along the international borders of India.

Functions:

• It plans, constructs and maintains roads, terminals and ancillary buildings other than national highways, State highways and railways, at an Integrated Check Post (ICP).
• It also establishes and maintains warehouses, container depots and cargo complexes for the storage or processing of goods with the establishment of hotels, restaurants and restrooms at ICP.

Add ons:

• There are currently nine ICPs operational in India at Attari, Agartala, Petrapole, Raxaul, Jogbani, Moreh, Sutarkandi, Srimantapur and PTB at Dera Baba Nanak.
• The majority of services at the ICPs are free, except those meant for trade which are charged as per the prescribed rates of tariff.
• The chargeable services for trade include charges for parking, weighment services, loading/unloading and warehousing.
• For passengers, there is no entry fee.  All passenger facilities at the ICPs are free.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Consider the following statements regarding ‘Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI)’:

1. It is established under Ministry of Home Affairs

2. It constructs and maintains roads at an Integrated Check Post (ICP)

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer