Goods-laden trucks stranded

BIRGUNJ, DEC 20 -

Hundreds of trucks loaded with goods and bound for Nepal are stranded in Bihar, India, for the past several days after the sales tax department debarred them from entering Nepal.

Traders said they have not been informed of the matter by the tax department in Bihar. They said Nepal-bound trucks from Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat, Mumbai, Assam and Rajasthan have been stranded in several check points in India, including Jalalpur, Karmanasa, Rajauli and Dovi.

An importer from Adarsanagar, Birgunj, said he had loaded a truck in New Delhi 20 days ago. It was supposed to arrive in Nepal within three days. However, this never happened.

The Raxual Transport Association has said goods that were imported under the ‘local import category’ without following the ARE 1 process have been blocked. The ARE 1 system was introduced after the scrapping of the Duty Refund Procedure (DRP) last March.

Secretary of the Raxual Transport Association Lal Babu Thakur said around 1,000 trucks bound for Nepal have been stranded in Bihar points. He added that such a problem was never seen earlier.

Under the ARE 1 system, the excise duty is not imposed in India on the goods exported to Nepal. Earlier, India used to impose the excise duty on goods exported to India, which Nepal would get back under the DRP system.

Local import means the import of goods from India and China without opening the letter of credit. According to Birgunj Customs Office, 70-80 percent of the goods imported from India come to Nepal under the local import system.

President of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ashok Temani said the department has been creating unnecessary hassles for importers by stopping the consignment. “We have not been informed of the reasons for the consignment being stopped.”

According to him, they have written to the Consulate General Office to look into the problem. The office, which has been set up to facilitate and simplify bilateral trade, however, has not responded although the letter was dispatched six days ago.

Traders have been hit hard as they have invested a lot of money in importing goods. “The banks’ interest is increasing,” Temani said. The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies has also been informed of the problem. Under the Nepal-India trade treaty, raw materials for Hindustan lever, Colgate, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and cosmetics used to be imported without any hindrance from different states of India via Bihar.

For the past few days, the tax department has been stopping goods worth up to IRs 25,000. Two months ago, the department officials had halted trucks carrying goods.

Source: The Kathmandu Post