Protest against customs tightening

BIRATNAGAR, May 23: Locals on Sunday staged protest against the newly enforced provision of filling up brief customs declaration forms for import of goods priced between Rs 100 and Rs 5,000.



Regular works at Biratnagar Customs Office were disrupted for an hour due to the agitation. [break]



Locals started protesting the decision after customs officials started collecting duty from people ferrying goods in small quantities from India.



“Regular work was halted for an hour due to the protest of petty importers. They withdrew protest after we produced a circular related to the new provision enforced by the Department of Customs,” said Binod Kunwar, chief of the Biratnagar Customs Office.



Officials say locals are importing goods worth Rs 1 million in small quantity through Jogbani customs every day.



Revenue collection at Biratnagar customs declined to Rs 21.4 million on Sunday from average daily collection of Rs 350 million.



The government has arranged additional staff members at Biratnagar customs, following rise in smuggling of goods through the customs.



Meanwhile, local traders brought operations at Tatopani Customs Office to a grinding halt on Sunday, protesting the government decision to increase customs valuation of goods.



According to our Sindhupalchowk correspondent Dhruba Dangal, over 125 containers ferrying goods from China are stuck in the customs’ container yard. Because of the protest, officials couldn’t check even a single container. About 40 containers enter Nepal from China every day.



The Department of Customs (DoC) had recently issued circulars to customs offices across the country to fix value of goods as per the transaction prices in the market.



Nirmal Hari Adhikari, chief of Tatopani Customs Office, said valuation has been increased on the goods the valuation of which was disproportionate to the market prices.



Sindhupalchowk Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has been leading the protest. Rajendra Shrestha, president of SCCI, said the protest was launched as the government enforced new valuation in an impractical manner.



Talks held to resolve the issue between customs officials and traders ended inconclusive on Sunday.

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