Chattogram Custom House launches e-auction system
So far, Tk36,000 crore revenue has been collected against a revenue collection target of Tk50,000 crore at the Chattogram Customs House
The Chattogram Custom House launched an e- auction system on Tuesday to sell off goods, which importers had not received within the stipulated time after arrival at the Chattogram port.
At an event organised at the Customs House to raise awareness about the e-payment system and inaugurate the online auction process, member of National Board of Revenue, Masud Sadiq said, "Fraud gangs are always active, but customs officials have derailed their attempts to take delivery of consignments by issuing false clearance permits through fake websites (that imitate the government websites)."
He also said that a tender had been floated to change the Chattogram Custom House's hardware that runs the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) software.
Masud Sadiq said that so far, Tk36,000 crore revenue has been collected against a revenue collection target of Tk50,000 crore at the Chattogram Customs House.
"This revenue could not have been collected without a running server. We have to work through the challenges," said Masud Sadiq.
Recalling his tenure as the Commissioner of the Chattogram customs house, Masud Sadiq said, "4,000 bills of entry were issued every day at the Chattogram Custom House when I was the Commissioner from 2012 to 2015. The number of bills of entry has now crossed 7,000 every day."
"But the space to accommodate officials and hardware have not increased. Rather than increase manpower, we are stressing on automation," he added.
Among others, Chattogram Custom House's Additional Commissioner, Dr Abu Nur Rashed Ahmed; its Joint Commissioners, Mohammad Tafsir Uddin Bhuyan; Muhammad Mahbub Hasan; Mohammad Tofael Ahmed; Mohammad Bappi Shahriar; President, Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association, AKM Aktar Hossain; Director, Shipping Agents Association, Khayrul Alam Sujan; Director, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Anjan Shekhar Das; Director, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Shawkat Osman; and representatives of different business organisations were in attendance.