FAISALABAD The City

Traders, customs officials have good ties: FCCI chief
From Our Correspondent
FAISALABAD. Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) president Engineer Rizwan Ashraf Tuesday said traders have good working relations with local customs officials.
Talking to Collector Customs Tauseef Qureshi, who visited the FCCI to resolve stalemate between customs officials and importers of used machinery, Rizwan said that the FCCI has full confidence in local customs collectorate. He said the situation deteriorated due to the checking of customs team from Lahore. He said importers of old machinery have now strong apprehensions that local customs staff under the psychological pressure of Lahore Customs team will over assess the valuation of import containers. Mian Muhammad Saeed, chairman FCCI standing committee on customs affairs, Chaudhry Muhammad Boota, former vice president, and representatives of importers of old used machinery also attended the meeting. They fully expressed their apprehensions and reservations on custom related issues.
Rizwan said pilling up of large number of import containers of old machinery is a matter of concern for all of us. He said Faisalabad is an industrial city and parts of imported old machinery are used by the local industry. If stuck-up containers were not cleared immediately, it will have negative impact on the local industry, he apprehended.
Collector Customs Tauseef Qureshi said only two containers of used machinery were caught on the basis of wrong declaration. He clarified that container other than old used machinery including machinery; printers’ photo-copiers, herbal and chemical, etc are being cleared while the importers of only old used machinery are not submitting their papers for clearance on illusion of over valuation. He said local customs collectorate has not clamped any restriction on the clearing of old used machinery and he has already issued two spate notices under section 82 of customs act to the importers to clear their consignments to avoid auction of the piled up containers.
He said customs collectorate under rules could auction these goods but he is intentionally avoiding such harsh step and instead a customs committee has also been constituted to dispel the fake apprehensions and facilitate the importers of old used machinery. He also assured them to redress their genuine grievances and asked them to submit their documents for the clearance of their import containers without any further delay.
The FCCI chief said the FCCI will continue to play its productive role in cultivating good working relations between government departments and business community of Faisalabad. He was optimistic that the issue would be resolved within days; however, the customs collectorate has to fulfill his commitments and facilitate the importers.