KOCHI: Following the request from Ernakulam District Collector K Muhammad Y Safirulla, the Customs Department on Wednesday allowed Direct Port Delivery (DPD) for the clearance of containers containing flood relief material arriving at the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), Vallarpadam, from abroad.
The Ernakulam administration on Wednesday deployed its team led by deputy tahsildar Joseph Antony Hurtis to handle the flood relief goods arriving at ICTT. The team was deployed following the state government notification which only permits the Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram Collectors to receive the relief goods and distribute it in flood-hit areas.
“The Collector made the request for DPD to speed up the flood relief goods’ delivery. It allows the goods to be directly received from the seaport. Normally, such a container has to be shifted to the container freight station and only after completing the procedure can the goods be handed over.
Following the Customs duty exemption, relief goods arriving in containers can be claimed by the district administration without delay,” Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar said. After the floods, 48 containers with flood relief goods arrived at the ICTT. Prior to the state government’s notification, 13 containers of relief goods were handed over NGOs and private agencies.
“The rest are still at the seaport. On Wednesday, we moved one container to a godown in Kalamassery and handed over two containers of relief goods to the Thrissur District Collector,” Hurtis said.
The agencies are expecting the arrival of over 100 such containers. “Since relief goods can be sent in bulk and there are limitations on sending relief goods by air, people in foreign countries would be getting them shipped in containers. We expect more consignments to reach in the coming days,” a Customs officer said.
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