How can you expect someone to pay that kind of money?"Īdded Raghvir Singh Sodha, who migrated to Jodhpur from Pakistan only a decade ago:
The customs confiscated all their gift packs, saris, jewellery, gold and asked for a 35 percent tax to get it freed. "There was a woman coming to India to get her three daughters married. In the words of harried passengers who spoke to IANS mainly on the condition of anonymity, Indian officials strip open each and every bag "in search of articles on which custom duty could be levied".įateh Singh, half of whose family lives in Pakistan, describes one such incident on his recent return to India. That makes it a 32-hour journey for a distance of no more than 700 km, which should not consume more than 12 hours normally. Saturday.īut thanks to marathon customs checks on both sides of the border (passengers say it is more intense in India), the train doesn't make it to Jodhpur before 7 a.m. every Friday, the train's scheduled arrival in Jodhpur is 9.30 p.m. It is generally the latter who are at the receiving end, they say, of the customs. Those who come for pilgrimage and those on personal visits. There are two broad categories of people travelling to India from Pakistan.
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Connecting the desert town of Jodhpur to Sindh province in Pakistan, thirst is not the only problem for the passengers here - the more pressing issue, they say, is harassment by customs officials. Unlike the better known Samjhauta Express that links Lahore and Delhi, the Thar Express - named after the vast expanse of desert on both sides of the frontier - is being termed a "torture train" by frequent travellers. Stall owners outside are stocked with food and drinks of all hues and tints they know the 250-odd passengers must be hungry and thirsty. The Bhagat ki Kothi railway station here is ready to receive its weekly train from Pakistan.