BUTWAL, August 2: Bhairahawa Customs, the second largest in the country, has collected 10 percent less revenue than the target this time. In the last fiscal year 2078/79, the office collected over Rs 115 billion in revenue. This amount is 90.94 percent of the revenue collection target set for the office in the last fiscal year.
The Customs Department had set a revenue collection target of Rs 127 billion 4.2 million. Bhairahawa Customs Officer Upendra Lamichhane said that due to the government's strict measures on the import of certain goods and the increase in revenue, the revenue collection somewhat decreased.
Out of the total revenue collected, Rs 39. 27 billion was collected in customs duty. A total of 87.68 percent of the target for customs duty has been collected. Similarly, over Rs 40.32 billion was collected from value added tax and over Rs 26.62 billion from excise duty. While 100 percent VAT collection target was met, only 81.94 percent of the target for excise duty could be met.
Apart from that, Customs Officer Lamichhane informed Republica that Rs 5.35 billion was collected under road improvement and maintenance, Rs 1.41 billion under infrastructure and Rs 1.92 billion under agricultural service fees.
Compared to the previous year, the import of MS billett, motorcycles, mobile phones, jeeps, cars, vans, diesel, petrol etc has increased through this customs office. Clothing, rice, potatoes and green vegetables are also imported through this transit point.
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Vehicle is at the top of revenue collection. The revenue collected through this checkpoint includes Rs 19.91 billion from imported motorcycles. Similarly, Rs 21.93 billion was collected from imported jeeps, cars and vans.
Among the items imported from Bhairahawa, MS billett is in the lead. In one year, MS billets or iron sheets worth Rs 20.61 billion have been imported through Bhairahawa customs. The second most imported item is motorcycles. As many as 181,651 motorcycles worth Rs 18.69 billion have been imported. LP gas worth Rs 11.22 billion has been imported. Likewise, 638,000 mobile sets worth almost Rs 9 billion have been imported. Similarly, 9,638 jeeps, cars and vans worth more than Rs 8.54 billion have been imported. Coal worth Rs 7.28 billion was also imported.
Petrol worth Rs 6.87 billion and diesel worth Rs 6.82 billion has been imported. Polythene granules worth Rs 6.70 billion and glazed tiles worth Rs 6.28 billion were also imported. The share of these 10 products in revenue collection is 54.23 percent.
Import worth Rs 300 billion, exports worth just Rs 7 billion
Exports are negligible compared to imports through Bhairahawa. Imports from India and third countries are increasing every year.
The import rate of industrial raw materials MS billet, motorcycles, trucks and pickup vehicles, jeeps, cars vans, fuel, tiles, marbles and consumer goods is increasing every year. Due to the import-oriented economy, the trade deficit graph is rising every year, according to the customs officials. The import of food grains and potatoes and onions is also high through this customs office.
In the last fiscal year, goods worth over Rs 296 billion were imported from Bhairahawa customs. But during that period, goods worth Rs 7.88 billion were exported. According to the customs officials, while the import is increasing year on year, the export has been decreasing.
