Biratnagar, February 19:

Biratnagar Customs Office (BCO) that used to collect revenue of twenty million rupees everyday has been collecting very little amount of revenue due to the bandhs these days.

According to the BCO, it collected revenue — Rs 5,465 on February 17, which is the lowest amount collected by the office so far. According to the statistics at BCO, Rs 2,390 was collected under the heading of customs, Rs 75 was collected under excise duty, Rs 293 was collected under local development fee and Rs 2,707 was collected under value added tax (VAT).

The revenue was collected from traveler’s section in the BCO, chief at BCO Shyam Dahal said, adding that trucks, which were heading to Nepal with raw materials, have been stranded at Jogbani and Bathnaha of the Indian side. Collection of revenue is badly affected in the BCO due to the agitation in Madhes since February 13.

The BCO should have collected the revenue of Rs 120 million in past six days, however, the collection was only Rs 41,00,000, the BCO source said. “The collection was Rs 6,22,127 under customs, Rs 34,89,356 under VAT and Rs 8,692 under local development fee in the past six days.

The revenue collection target could not be met this year. “Such incidents of bandhs

will affect the collection of targeted revenue,” Dahal said, adding that the collection is already twenty million rupees less than the target in the first six months.