Realizing that he would incur massive losses if the consignment did not reach the Capital before the second biggest festival of the Hindus, he had to pay an extra Rs 215,000 over the Rs 85,000 freight charge fixed by the Nepal Truck Container Entrepreneurs’ Association.

Traders bringing goods from across the Chinese border are finding it hard to get container trucks without the help of middlemen. Even an official of the Nepal Trans-Himalayan Traders’ Association had to pay Rs 150,000 more to get hold of a container.

A member of the association complained that traders had to give in to middlemen or face their goods being stranded at the border, and that the local administration was doing nothing about it. “Doing trade through this route has become very difficult due to the increased influence of unwanted groups and a few traders,” he said.

Since Araniko Highway connecting Kathmandu with the Chinese border to the north was cut off by a massive landside at Jure on August 2, importers have been forced to pay more to transport their goods to Kathmandu, they said.

More than 600 containers filled with goods intended for Dashain and Tihar are yet to enter Nepali territory. Imports loaded in August are still stranded in the jungles of Khasa across the border, and workers have been employed for their security.

After the landslide in Jure damaged a section of the highway, transportation has been disrupted. An alternative road has been constructed, but it is very rough and travel over it is not easy.

“If the current situation continues, it will take another month for the goods stranded in Khasa to arrive at the border,” said Sonorbu Sherpa, a member of the Sindhupalchok Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Meanwhile, lack of transportation has affected the government’s revenue collection too. The Tatopani Customs Office has set a target to collect taxes amounting to Rs 5.9 billion within the first quarter, but so far it has been able to collect only Rs 500 million.

It is also the usual practice for importers to see the customs officer to get his approval to process their customs clearance documents at 2-3 pm instead of in the morning. The customs officers check the documents in the evening and clear the containers at around 10 pm.

The reason why official business is being conducted late at night is not clear. One of the reasons seems to be that traders like to wait for a friendly officer to clear their goods at undervalued customs rate.

There are agents who help importers to get their cargo cleared through customs at a lower customs value for a commission. They don’t move until a customs officer who is willing to do so comes around. Customs staff said that the traders themselves were to blame for the slow clearance of goods.

There is also a practice of traders transporting customs officers in their vehicles. Importers take customs staff to Tatopani from Kathmandu on Sunday and bring them back on Friday either in their own or rented vehicles.  

The traders pay for the food and accommodation of the customs staff. They said that they had to spend around Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 each time they transport customs staff to the customs office.

Reign of goons

More than 1,300 vehicles ply the route between the Tatopani border point and Kathmandu. Over 1,000 of them belong to people associated with the Nepal Truck Containers Entrepreneurs’ Association. The association allocates a certain number of containers to traders based on the volume of their shipments.

The container entrepreneurs allocated 248 containers to traders last Saturday, but they have not received them to transport their goods even though a week has passed. A trader involved in distributing containers said he had also failed to get the approved number. “We will not participate in the container distribution.

We have doubts about the intentions of the officials of the Truck Container Entrepreneurs’ Association,” he said.

A trader said that local goons take containers that have already been assigned to Khasa and rent them to other traders for a higher charge. Another trader said that hoodlums had taken control of 12 container trucks last week. According to sources, they charge as much as Rs 200,000 more than the fixed freight.  

However, Raj Kumar Poudel, president of the Truck Container Entrepreneurs’ Association, said that there had not been any irregularities. “The containers have been sent across the border only to transport apples which are perishable,” he said.

However, Chief District Officer Gopal Prasad Parajuli said that they were probing the alleged irregularities by container owners following increased complaints against them. “We have not received formal complaints, but we have received information that blackmailing is taking place in transportation,” he added.