Shiv Raj Bhatt

Bhajani (Kailali), April 12:

Smuggling has surged in border areas of Kailali district following the shifting of half a dozen of custom offices to the district headquarter at Dhangadhi. Hundreds of tractors of sugar, fertilizer, cement and clothing are being smuggled into Nepal from India everyday. Six custom offices were shifted to district headquarter at Dhangadhi citing lack of security some two and half years ago. The custom offices of Hasuliya VDC, except in Bhadari - Kanari Chhoti Bhansar, Fulbari, Ghuiya Phanta, Ratanpur and Lal Bhoji VDC’s Prithvipur, Bhajani’s Sunaphanta, Tikapur’s Satti and Bardawa were moved to district headquarter in January, 2003, chief custom officer in Kailali custom office, Gauri Prasad Upadhyaya, said. A large number of items including Sugar, chemical fertilizer, cement, clothing and electrical goods are being openly transported into Nepal by Indian tractors after the custom offices were shifted to the district headquarter, eyewitnesses said. The goods once unloaded in Nepal, are then being carried by Nepali tractors.