ISLAMABAD: Chief Collector Customs Nadir Khan Hoti said that the government should bring in new blood in the Customs Department especially customs intelligence and investigation to enhance its performance. No recruitment has been made in the department for last several years.
In an exclusive interview with Customs Today, the Chief Collector said that last month our deputy superintendent and 2 other policemen were kidnapped by smugglers during the course of investigation but the high officials including IG Police KPK and IG Police Islamabad extended their full support for recovery of our men. Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa also remained constantly in contact with Interior Ministry officials and made great efforts to get customs personnel freed from smugglers. Our vigilant superintendent in-charge anti-smuggling Zargham Dil also played his role in this regard.
Chief Collector Nadir Khan that bar on employment created problems and resulted in weak performance. Average age of our men is 50 years and they cannot use modern equipment to better cope with smugglers. Old and damaged vehicles also spoil the anti-smuggling operations. He said that although this year’s revenue collection target is quite ambitious but we are trying our level best to achieve this target but we should be well aware of the fact that business activities are continuously declining due to energy crisis and deteriorated law and order situation.
He said, “We are facilitating importers and exports. Amnesty scheme on import of 5 years old cars was also generating immense revenue but the period has been reduced to 3 years this year which put negative impact on customs duty collection.” He said that corruption in any organization is a universal phenomenon but an inbuilt mechanism for audit of such organizations proves to be very useful in eradicating corruption. We keep a proper check and balance on imported goods and follow effective mechanism for determining valuation of items.
He said that sales tax has a direct effect on revenue collection as it is a domestic tax and we are generating huge revenues through sales tax. On the other hand, sales tax is not showing a remarkable growth because of limited purchasing power of consumers. He said that revenue can be increased by lowering duties on necessary items like tea, cloth, tyres & tubes, etc. This will discourage the trend of tax evasion. He said that similarly we are collecting duty on imports only so there is a need to increase imports by decreasing the duty, adding that by doing so shortfall in revenue will be adjusted.
Talking about issuance of SROs, the Chief Collector said that unnecessary SROs and those issued for the benefit of a specific class or community should be repealed and rest of the SROs having positive impact should be maintained. The Chief Collector said that the international development partners are helping Pakistan to promote regional trade as they are working with the government on border with Afghanistan. They are also providing 200 vehicles to Pakistan to facilitate withdrawal of NATO cargo from Torkham and Chaman to Karachi.
