Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)

Mangaluru, Jan 28: Mangalore University vice-chancellor Prof K Byrappa on Friday January 27 inaugurated International Customs Day- 2017 held on the theme 'Data analysis for the effective border management' at the new customs house, Panambur here.

Addressing the gathering Prof K Byrappa said, "It is good to see that customs is connected to all departments of our-day to-day life. The job of customs is not easy, working at the sea port and the airport checking and collecting revenue. Customs have to handle officials, diplomats and civilians, where they have to face several challenges in this technological world. Also, there are chances of terrorists coming in disguise.

"I congratulate the customs personnel who serve at Mangaluru port which is one of the finest ports in the country. Major threat to the country can be prevented if customs officials work efficiently.

Recalling his younger days, Byrappa said, "When I had been to England at a young age of 21, I went through customs and they found saffron in my baggage. Suspecting that it was a contraband they made me wait for long for further clearance. At that age it was quite terrible and uncomfortable to face such an inconvienience."

Commissioner of customs, central excise and service rax Dr M Subramanyam said, "This is a great moment for the entire customs fraternity, not only for the officers but also for the all sectors as they are connected in one or the other way. We are trying to sensitize officers, the public and the stakeholders to let them know what we have done for the last one year or so.

Subramanyam highlighted that levels of facilitation could be improved owing to proper data analysis
thereby striking a right balance between facilitation and enforcement. It was highlighted that customs is regularly monitoring the dwell time of import and export cargo which is currently about 5% and 21% respectively out of the total time taken to complete the activity. He also informed the gathering about the single window facility implemented last year which further enabled expeditious clearance and stated that in the rankings at national level, the commissionerate has consistently been standing in the top 10 performers.

"On export cargo figures are little higher, up to 21.53% of the time taken, because in Mangaluru port we have only bulk cargo which takes a lot of time. The port here allows three months to clear the cargo," he added.

Principal commissioner of income tax Narottam Mishra said, "The customs collection earlier in 2005-06 was sluggish, hovering around Rs 50,000 crore. It was hardly jumping and there was neck-and-neck with excise collection. In 2011-12, for the first time the customs collection surpassed excise collection, collecting Rs 1.49 lac crore while excise collection was 1.44 lac crore. Thereafter the collection was neck-and-neck."

Felicitation

Deputy commissioner of customs Pravin Vinod, assistant commissioner of customs N Udayashankar, superintendent of customs Haridas, superintendent of customs (Karwar) A N Ramachandra, superintendent of customs (Malpe) Ravindra, inspector of Mangalore International Airport Rajeev Kumar were felicitated on the occasion.

Udupi Power Corporation Limited bagged the best importer award, Himat Singka Seide Limited bagged the best exporter and Meridian Freight Forwardness Limited bagged the best customs broker award.

Former bureaucrat and author Giselle Mehta and others were present.