KOCHI: Despite a Central government order to clear Covid-related medical cargo within 24 hours of landing in the country, 10 oxygen concentrators which arrived at the Kochi airport on July 10 have been stuck in the airport for nearly 10 days as the customs officials kept on delaying the release of the emergency medical goods, citing one reason or the other.
The unreasonable delay caused the importer an additional Rs 65,000 on account of demurrage, detention charges and ground rent at the airport, said an official of the importing company, who wished not to be identified. “This delay is unpardonable as patients would be waiting for oxygen and here the customs officials are not releasing the cargo citing some technical reasons, despite stern orders from the Central government on immediate release of Covid-related medical cargo,” he said.
The Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Industry has taken up the issue with the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. In a letter to Sitharaman, the Chamber’s secretary Rajesh Kunhappan said the cargo arrived at the Kochi airport around 10.30 pm on July 10, a Saturday, which happened to be lockdown day in the Ernakulam district.
The Chamber said two days were missed due to lockdown on Saturday and Sunday, and the bill of entry was generated only on Monday (July 12). The Chamber alleged that the Assistant Commissioner, Harrison, kept on pending submission request on his table for six days before the importer collected his official phone number. Since he was not picking up the phone, the importer sent a WhatsApp message in the same number, the Chamber’s letter said, adding that the Assistant Commissioner asked the importer to submit the original copy of the letter from the municipal health authorities/corporation councillor citing lockdown on Saturday and Sunday.
The Chamber said Harrison insisted that the cargo will be released only on submission of hard copy of the letter. Otherwise the importer can pay late fee and take cargo out, which resulted the consignee paying the fine for which it was not the fault or mistake committed by the importer. Responding to a query from TNIE, Harrison said the consignment was not cleared because it didn’t specify that it was oxygen concentrator. “Since the cargo was rejected by my superior, I had to ask them to send the original documents,” he said.