SIDHUPALCHOWK: A quarantine office, to check the quality of the foodstuffs and animals entering Nepal through Tatopani, has become defunct, as the customs office has been doing its job.

Staffers at the quarantine office said the office was not well equipped to carry out the tests.

The quarantine office has the authority to examine the health of the animals and the quality of the foodstuff while the customs office has to collect revenue of those items.

Devi Prasad Panta, technician at the quarantine office, said though the customs office should have been receiving the quarantine reports from them, it's the customs staff that does it all.

He reiterated that the revenue office should be collecting revenue only after the quarantine office was done with its job.

Staffers at the quarantine office complained that their attempt to work in coordination with the customs office had failed. The staffers hinted at some hidden motives of the customs staffers.

The staffers suspected that the customs staffers might have been taking bribes from the businessmen for passing the goods without quality checks.

There are eight staffers in the quarantine office. Chudamani Devkota, customs chief, admitted that the office lacked enough equipment.

He, however, maintained that the customs staff sent the goods to them if they thought it necessary.

Nevertheless the authority of the tests lay with the quarantine office not with the customs. The negligence of the like runs the risk of various animal borne diseases.

Garlic, apples, biscuits, sheep, chocolates, wine and dry meat is imported from China via Tatopani entry point.