India-bound travelers are having to queue for up to seven hours at the Benapole-Tetrapole border checkpoints as crowd pressure has grown five-fold ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival.

Apart from simply touring purposes, many are also capitalising on the five-day Eid vacation to seek medical treatment in India.

Benapole is located in Jashore district of Bangladesh while Petrapole is located in India’s West Bengal state.

Benapole immigration sources claim that while people are queuing for about two hours at the Bangladesh side for officials to complete document checks, document checks are taking five more hours at the Indian side of the border.

Some travelers and immigration staff further alleged that at Petrapole border point in India there are no separate lines for people seeking medical treatment, worsening their sufferings.

Generally, four to six thousand people cross into India from Bangladesh through the Benapole border point over the course of three days, but the traveler count surged to nearly 25 thousand between Thursday and Sunday.

Bangladeshis frequently travel to India, thanks to improved land and rail connectivity, for visiting world-famous tourist sites. Travel for medical purposes is also a major factor behind travel to India.

And the travels for both purposes naturally rise significantly during holiday periods, but in this Eid the surge has likely hit record.