Zero revenue collection, Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry expresses solidarity
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The country's main customs office, Birgunj, remained closed on Tuesday after customs agents shut down their offices and halted work.
Birgunj Customs Office Information Officer Uday Singh Bista said that there was no inspection work in the office on Tuesday.
‘Since the customs agents will not do any inspection work, we did not turn on any of the office’s computers today,’ he said, ‘This happened because our entire work is done through the customs agents and their representatives.’
Bista said that since the customs agents did not work, the revenue collection of the Birgunj Customs Office was also zero on Tuesday. On a normal day, this customs office collects an average of Rs 60 to 63 crore in revenue daily, but the revenue collection on Tuesday was also zero, he said.
Birgunj Customs Agents Association President Rajman Tamang said that while they did not work partially on Sunday and Monday, the customs office’s work was completely stopped on Tuesday at the call of the Central Customs Agents Federation.
The customs agents are protesting, saying that the provision of Section 71(6) of the Customs Act 2082, brought by the federal government on November 20, imposing a fine of 10 percent of the revenue if a customs agent makes an error while uploading any document electronically is impractical. Tamang said that since this strict fine provision is impractical, they will continue to protest until it is amended.
He said that there are 180 customs agents in Birgunj Customs alone and 911 representatives from the three.
Solidarity by Birgunj Chamber of Commerce
Meanwhile, the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce has expressed solidarity with the customs agent's protest. The association issued a statement on Tuesday, stating that the association's attention has been drawn to the problem of customs agents working at the customs office not passing customs checks since Tuesday.
In a statement issued by the association's president, Hari Prasad Gautam, it is mentioned that some sections of the new Customs Act are such as to create an uncomfortable situation for the rights and interests of customs agents and have also had a negative impact on international trade facilitation.
'They have asked the concerned bodies to take the initiative to immediately resolve the problems created by the Customs Act 2082 and to remain silent until the problem is resolved,' the statement said, 'The demands raised by the Customs Agents Federation are justified, the government cannot move forward by introducing a liberal customs policy in opposition to liberal economic policies.'
The association is of the opinion that business will not grow by imposing fines alone, and the association has demanded through a statement that the demands raised by the Customs Agents Federation be immediately met and customs reforms be implemented.
