Rajbiraj, March 22

Smuggling of goods from India to Nepal has adversely affected revenue collection at Rajbiraj Customs Office, Saptari.

The customs office had set the target of collecting Rs 86.9 million this fiscal. The office, however, has collected only Rs 32.7 million in the past eight months. Acting chief at the customs office Ramraj Prasad Chaurasiya said it was impossible to collect Rs 54 million in the remaining four months to meet the target.

Revenue Leakage Control Committee Coordinator and CDO BhagirathPandey and his team have put in a lot of efforts to check smuggling of goods. However, their efforts have failed to bear fruit.

To manage import and export, a customs office was established at Belhi and other small customs offices were set up at Swornapatti, Banainiya, Aurahi, Kodarkatti, Govindpur and Hanumannagar. Of them, Swornapatti, Banainiya, Kodarkatti, Govindpur and Hanumannagar customs offices are non-existent now.

Niraj Kumar Jha said smuggling of goods and commodities had gone up in collusion with police personnel. “Mafias are active to bring in the goods by evading tax,” Jha said.

Saptari SP Mukesh Kumar Singh said that around 200 police personnel were mobilised at seven border points in the district to check smuggling of goods.