Holding a meeting of revenue and senior security officials, Ministry of Finance on the day even identified areas where cross-border smuggling were rampant and revenue leakages were huge. [break]
“We have found districts like Siraha and Saptari and customs points like Rangeli of Morang, Nakalbad, Bhadrapur and Pashupatinagar of Mechi zone as most vulnerable and sensitive areas in terms of revenue leakages,” said a participant of the meeting. The meeting assessed smuggling was on the rise also in districts like Banke, Bardia, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang and Darchula of mid and far western regions.
Likewise, MoF also rated customs like Janakpur, Sarlahi and Gaur and small customs like Janakitola, Thori and Bhiswa of Birgunj, and small customs placed under Bhairahawa and Krishnanahar as major revenue leakages points.
“Clearly, these are sensitive areas where the revenue administration, local administration and security agencies need to focus upon. Hence, we issued strict instructions to all responsible authority to increase vigilance and work jointly in those areas,” said the MoF official.
During the meeting, Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun also issued strong warning against revenue officials showing laxity toward their works. “The government has adopted zero tolerance policy on revenue leakage. Officials exhibiting morale hazards will face stringent actions,” he stated.
Senior revenue and security officials at the meeting briefed the minister that the cases of cross-border smuggling dropped over the first four months of the current fiscal year. However, Pun said he was not satisfied with it, and instructed them to work for establishing zero leakage environment at customs points.
If required, he said he was ready to deploy more security personnel to support the customs and other revenue administration.
“As a civil servant, we must understand we live in a house made of transparent glasses. There is no room for complacency. The task of controlling smuggling is risky. But we must live up to our task,” he stated.
Senior customs officials, interestingly, complained that they were not receiving adequate support from security agencies. In order to address their concern, Minister Pun said he would establish a system, whereby contributions made by Home Ministry in revenue collections would be closely evaluated.
“This will ensure whether security agencies at the district level are working properly or not,” he stated.
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