Unclaimed freight piling up at Sirsiya

Raw materials imported by iron and steel factories have been piling up at Sirsiya Dry Port as they have made no moves to clear them. There are 78 tonnes of steel billets occupying space at the inland container depot causing a headache to its management since Monday. According to Bishnu Kant Chaudhary, CEO of Himalayan Terminal which manages the dry port, 70 percent of the mound of raw materials belong to Jagdamba Steels and Jagdamba Enterprises. Around 15 iron factories like Himal Steels, Rajesh Hardware, Hulas Steels and Laxmi Steels import raw materials through the dry port.“The factories have been carrying away their raw materials from the dry port as per their requirement,” said Chaudhary. “They are facing payment difficulties, so they are removing their goods a little at a time as they have not been able to clear them at once.” Devi Prasad Bhandari, chief of the customs office at the dry port, said lack of cranes and trailers for loading and unloading the raw materials and transportation problems had led to the problem. “Himalayan Terminal has been unable to provide cranes and trailers as per requirement.” On Monday, two containers of raw materials arrived at the dry port by freight train. A container contains 2,600 tonnes of raw materials. The dry port has seen regular imports of raw materials, but they are not cleared on a regular basis. Anil Rungata, manager of Jagdamba Enterprises, said they were facing difficulties to clear the goods from the dry port due to lack of cranes and trailers. Himalayan Terminal CEO Chaudhary refuted the claim saying they were short of cranes 15 days ago, but now there are no difficulties. “We had seven cranes 15 days ago, and the number has been increased to 11 now,” he said, adding that they would be bringing eight more cranes within a week. Chaudhary said they had 40-45 trailers while there is a requirement for 84-85 trailers. Source: ekantipur