Of the 220 containers that were left at the port premises, 17 containers of cargo have been sold at auction and three containers have been returned.
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International shipping companies have put pressure on the Birgunj Customs Office to return 185 containers that have been stuck in the Sirsia Dry Port premises under the Birgunj Customs Office for six years.
Birgunj Customs Office Chief Customs Administrator Bishnu Prasad Gyawali said that the companies have recently written to them and pressured them to return their containers immediately. Even before the Corona pandemic, the actual importers and individuals and companies of the goods imported from third countries in 2076 BS have not been contacted, so those containers are still stranded in the port premises.
‘No importer has come to declare the goods as theirs for the inspection and clearance process of the goods in the containers,’ he said, ‘In such a situation, the goods along with those containers will become abandoned.’
The containers are kept in the southeast corner of the port. Some of the containers are also emitting a foul odor. The containers are not emptied until the goods in the containers are managed. Gyawali said that he has formed a committee under the coordination of Chief Customs Officer Ram Prasad Pathak and will take a decision to destroy the goods inside the container after the committee studies the necessary details and submits a report on the process of destroying the goods.
According to the new provisions of the Economic Act, the owner of the container brought by the importer to the customs point can apply for inspection and clearance, so the importer still has the facility to declare that the container is his and take it.
Initially, a total of 220 containers of goods were left in the port premises, of which 17 containers of goods have been sold at auction and three containers have been sent back. Gyawali said that it has been decided to send 14 containers out of the 17 and are in the process of sending them back to India. The remaining 185 containers of abandoned goods are in a state of destruction.
‘The goods inside the containers have been sealed as they have to be destroyed after the importer did not come in contact,’ he said. ‘Out of those containers, 90 contain kerau, 61 contain chhokda, 10 contain poppy seeds, 9 contain betel nuts, 7 contain feed supplements, and 2 contain lentils.’ Apart from these, there are also one container each of gram, walnut, flying toothbrush, buffalo horn, moong dal and deo spray. Gyawali said that those containers have been sealed in the presence of the local administration, district-based government offices and concerned bodies.
Some of those items will have to be destroyed after the laboratory test report shows that they are inedible. The report has not come yet. Chief Customs Administrator Gyawali said that since a long time has passed, some of the containers of goods have to be broken and sent for laboratory testing, and a decision has to be made on whether to destroy them or not after receiving the report.
