The country's two largest customs offices in Birganj, Birganj and Sirsia dry port customs have been merged from Thursday. Sirsia Customs, the country's first dry port located here, was abolished and merged into Birganj Customs, i.e. the present integrated check post.

As of Wednesday, the name of the Sircia dry port has been merged. Now the name of the Integrated Customs Office will be Birgunj Customs Office.

From the first day of the new financial year, both the customs offices have been merged into a single service. In terms of revenue collection, Birgunj Customs Office is the first in the country, while Sirsia Dry Port Customs Office is also among the top five. Birganj Customs has been collecting annual revenue of more than 1 billion and Sirsia dry port around 50 billion.

The government decision to merge both customs offices has been implemented after five and a half years. According to the new structure created after the merger, ICP i.e. Birgunj Customs Office will have two Chief Customs Officers (Deputy Secretaries) Rajendra Dhungana and Ram Prasad Pathak and Dhan Bahadur Baruwal, Chief Customs Officer of former Sirsia Dry Port Customs Office under the current Chief Customs Administrator (Joint Secretary) Deepak Lamichhane.

Chief Customs Administrator Lamichhane has said that although the office is the same, the services to the customers will be provided from both Sirsia and Birgunj. The Council of Ministers decided to merge these two customs structures in December 2076. At that time, considering that there was no need for three customs at the same border, the government took the policy of bringing the Sirsia customs under the Birganj customs and limiting the customs at the Birganj-Raxaul border only to the passenger branch.

The then Chief Baruwal has informed that the Customs Department canceled the Sirsia dry port customs from July 1st and has already corresponded to provide integrated services from ICP. He said that it has been merged to make foreign trade more convenient and facilitate the customers.

In preparation for the merger of customs, the post of Joint Secretary was established in Birganj Customs since then. A joint secretary was appointed for the first time in August 2075 and a year after that it was decided to merge. In order to connect these two customs points, which play an important role in the economic activities of the country, the government is conducting the acquisition process of 62 bighas of land between them.

The Sirsia dry port, which was operational 2 decades ago, and the integrated security check post, which has been operating for 8 years, will be connected after the acquisition of the village of Khalwatola and local farms. The government believes that due to the lack of customs infrastructure and yard, there is a problem in the operation and after the acquisition of the land, the import-export trade will be easier. However, the acquisition process has not been fully completed as there is no evaluation of Swabashi land and some structures. Out of the 62 bighas to be acquired, compensation for 58 bighas has been distributed so far.

For 58 bighas, 4 billion 99 million 24 lakh rupees have been distributed so far, while the remaining 4 bighas, 4 kathas, 7 dhur land and houses, trees, ponds, etc., are yet to be distributed. The acquisition process was initiated by the federal government 9 years ago. The acquisition process has been started by the decision of the Government of Nepal dated 17th December 2073.