The rise in illicit trade across the 77-kilometer porous border that Bardiya shares with India became clear when a team from District Administration Office on Thursday unearthed 500 sacks of illegal fertilizer from three agrovets -- Krishna, Saraswati and Rachana -- in Gulariya.
“Also, we have been informed that the smuggling of cement and other commodities has sharply soared in the district,” said Beni Madhav Gyawali, chief district officer of Bardiya, who told myrepublica.com that the DAO had mobilized its inspection teams in the market to monitor the situation.
The DAO team had raided the three agrovets on Thursday. The unearthed illegal fertilizer is worth hundreds of thousand rupees. The team has handed over the seized fertilizers to the customs office in Gulariya for necessary action, stated Shanta Kumar Dhakal, officer at DAO.
The DAO has attributed the rise in smuggling to the apathy of the police.
Bardiya was infamous for cross-border smuggling during the Maoist insurgency because of the relocation of police check posts to the district headquarters. These check posts have been re-established, but weak morale of the officials and corruption at customs has given a boost to smuggling.
Even the officials at Gulariya customs admit that smuggling of cement, fertilizers, livestock and other commodities has soared in the district. Sources said that everyday some 20,000 sacks (of 50 kg) of cement and fertilizers along with livestock products enter the country illegally from Mainapokhari, Gulariya, Kalika and Rajapur and reach up to Kathmandu via the East-West Highway.
Nirakaran Gupta, a trader, said cement is priced at about Rs 270 per sack on the other side of the border, whereas the same is easily sold at Rs 570 on this side of the border.
Smuggling was controlled to some extent two years ago when Indian Border Security Force (BSF) tightened movement of goods across the border. “But these days, traders have built a nexus with the BSF and as well as the Nepali police. Mere evasion of tax fetches a profit of Rs 120 per sack even after paying the police,” said a trader.
Sources said smuggling of cement has soared mainly with the involvement of big traders of the district.
The illicit trade has not only increased revenue evasion, but also displaced local commodities. Also, the entry of livestock products without proper quarantine checks has left the district vulnerable to animal and bird borne diseases, said officials at the District Livestock Services Office.
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