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Priority clearance sought for perishables at Petrapole

Mohan Padmanabhan

PETRAPOLE, July 26

EXPORT of perishable items such as mangoes, onions and tomatoes in large consignments to Bangladesh via the Petrapole border point is threatened by various factors including the ``inflexible'' attitude of the authorities at the Land Customs Station.

Seeking priority clearance for these trucks, which are now made to wait for days because of electronic processing of shipping bills, exporters are also being pummeled from the Bangladesh side: as per a recent directive from Benapole customs, 4.30 p.m is the cut-off time for passage of Indian trucks carrying perishables.

According to Mr. Abdul Malik Howladar, Superintendent of Customs at Benapole: ``We are doing our best to accommodate Indian trucks carrying perishables up to as late as 6 p.m, but efforts should be made on the Indian side too to arrange necessary papers by afternoon.''

On the Bangladesh side, papers are handled manually, and therefore, verification of EDI-generated Indian documents has become a time-consuming affair. Computerisation at Benapole has already been announced in the last national Budget, but preparatory wor k was yet to start, Mr. Howladar said.

Truckers coming from West Bengal and outside blame the Indian Customs for the delay in endorsing the TR-6 forms, which are generated in the new EDI system only after the 0.5 per cent cess (uniform for all agro-based products) is deposited at the bank cou nters.

Asked why documents of perishable trucks cannot be taken up early in the morning, Customs sources say the EDI system becomes operational only after 9.30 a.m.

As for banks, the charge is that they rigidly stick to regular working hours, which do not suit exporters, who cannot know days in advance the quantities to be exported. Banks have been urged to adopt full working on Saturdays and Sundays to synchronise with the working hours of Bangladesh customs at the Benapole side.

The trade on the Indian side is blaming the Customs authorities, who, in turn, are trying to shift the blame to the lone SBI branch at Petrapole, which finds it illogical to introduce extended hours of banking, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, consid ering the small amount collected by way of cess. The SBI branch downs shutters at 12 noon on Saturdays, when arrival of perishable trucks touch a peak. Even the Customs authorities have supported split banking hours, so that trucks carrying persihables c ould be cleared quickly. It is, however, still not known where actually the buck stops.

Exporters plead that the least the Customs can do till such time the SBI branch shows a little more attitude, is to present a sympathetic face to trucks carrying perishables. They feel that these trucks, especially those which arrive on a Saturday, shoul d not be made to wait till Monday for clearance, as a good 20-25 per cent of the cargo gets spoiled.

The loss per truck, according to one source, is to the extent of 30 per cent mainly on account of delayed clearance.

The newly-set up EDI system at the Petrapole Custom House, which handles only White Shipping Bills at the moment, is linked to the bank in such a way that clearance papers are generated by the system only if cess is paid in advance.

While exporters' agents complain that they are made to run from pillar to post to get the perishables across the border as quickly as possible, the Customs sources say that unless banking hours are extended (including on Sundays), the problem cannot be s olved.

Till such time full EDI work is started, manual processing of forms (TR-5) should be allowed. But the Customs authorities have not ceded to this request, sources point out.

It now devolves on export promotion councils and other trade bodies to suggest a plan to dovetail the working of EDI at Petrapole to suit the peak arrivals of perishables so that truckers do not have to idle away at the Central Warehousing Corporation's parking lot.

Exports through Petrapole have begun to pick up, with perishables accounting for a good share, and if the tempo has to be maintained, some concessions have to made on the rigid customs procedures, say sources.