COIMBATORE: Negligence by the customs department officials and lack of international flight connectivity badly affects the gold bars import at the Coimbatore international airport.
Air cargo complex at Coimbatore international airport play a vital role in fulfilling the Domestic and the international cargo export and imports of the industrialists. Since Coimbatore is famous in gold jewellery manufacturing, the need for the gold imports are on the steep rise. But due to the negligence by the customs department officials in the airport for giving the clearance for the goods. Most of the industrialists skip using the international cargo service at Coimbatore. Due to this, the gold imports have literally come down to less than 100 kilos per month.
Coimbatore International Airport cargo department official said Express, "Yes, it is true that the gold imports handling have literally reduced at the airport. During 2012, each month 9 tonnes of Gold bars were imported. But now less than 100 kilos of gold bars are imported each month. The delay by the customs officials in giving the clearance is one of the main reason. Each day the gold rate differs. Hence due to the delay, importers are incurring huge losses. Hence they use other airports. The negligence by the customs department officials has hit the revenue of the regions commissionarate in a big way since crores of excise duty has gone to some other airports. Fastening up the clearance process by the customs officials and increasing the international flight operations will help more industrialists to use the Coimbatore international air cargo service to import Gold."
Coimbatore Jewellery manufacturers said, "On an average each month 6 tonnes and each year 72 tonnes of gold bars are required to fulfill the needs of the Coimbatore jewellery manufacturers. Both the lack of international flight connectivity and the negligence by the customs department officials are the main reasons for the steep decline in the gold bar imports at Coimbatore airport. At present international airport at Andra pradesh is used by most of the Jewellery manufacturers in Coimbatore to import the gold bars. If more international air connectivity is given, and the customs officials fasten up the process, in future more gold imports will be made at Coimbatore."
When Contacted Customs department official said, "The delay is mainly due to the technical issues and not by the officials. Lack of international connectivity is also a reason for the decline witnessed in the gold bar imports. There are various other reasons also to be considered such as, purchasing power of the consumers have come down etc. Industrialists always have the attitude of blaming the government officials. But the customs officials are giving out their best in doing their duty ensuring the goods cleared on time at the airport cargo complex."