Nepalgunj, January 9:

Vehicle entrepreneurs are facing difficulty as the Nepalgunj Customs Office is yet to decide about 46 jeeps, which were seized by the office four years ago.

The custom office had taken under control 46 jeeps in October/November of 2002 citing the jeeps were imported cheating custom charges.

“The office is yet to decide either the vehicles be returned to the concerned entrepreneurs or not,” a victim entrepreneur Chandra Prasad Bhusal said, adding: “We have staged many protest programmes for a month to draw the government’s attention to solve the problem. The government assured to solve our problems however it is yet to be solved.”

With the help of the Maoists and the leaders of the seven political parties, the entrepreneurs had forcefully taken out the vehicles from the custom office premises on August 3, 2006.

“When the government assured to solve problem shortly, the vehicles were sent back to custom office again. However it is yet to be solved,” Bhusal said.

The condition of vehicles is deteriorating day by day due to heat and rain because they are kept under the open sky, said the vehicle entrepreneurs.

“The government has assured to provide vehicles to the concerned entrepreneurs taking appropriate tax after evaluating the vehicles’ conditions. If the entrepreneurs denied to take the vehicles, government has assured to provide 50 per cent discount on custom charge free for the entrepreneur while purchasing new vehicle. However the government is yet to implement it,” said a jeep entrepreneur Baburam Poudel.

The Nepalgunj custom office has not received any direction from the department regarding this issue, said custom office sources. “The process is underway to solve the problem shortly,” said acting chief of the custom office, Purna Nanda Bhatta.