NEW DELHI: The newly created Customs Preventive Commissionerate (CPC) of Andhra Pradesh began functioning from its rented premises at Auto Nagar here on Wednesday. Chief Commissioner of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax (Visakhapatnam Zone) Deepa B. Dasgupta inaugurated the commissionerate.
The department’s own building will come up on a four-acre site near Gannavaram airport in two years. Addressing the media on the occasion, Ms. Dasgupta said the new CPC would have jurisdiction over customs houses at Krishnapatnam and Kakinada, eight shore guard preventive units and the inland container depot at Marripalem in Guntur district.
The process of setting up a customs unit at Gannavaram is in advanced stages, as the proposal for operating international flights from the airport is under the active consideration of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
As far as revenue is concerned, Ms. Dasgupta said the fixed target for CPC, excluding the customs house at Visakhapatnam, for the current financial year (2015-16) was Rs. 4,200 crore. It was around Rs. 2,500 crore in 2014-15.
S.K. Rahman, Commissioner of Customs, said due emphasis was being laid on anti-smuggling operations, for which the help of Navy, Coast Guard and State marine police was taken.
