LAHORE: The revenue of Customs Appraisement & Facilitation (Central), Lahore, saw a significant increase under its Chief Collector Faiz Ahmad, who was appointed to the post in April last year.
Led by concerted efforts of Chief Collector Faiz Ahmad, the overall revenue of Customs Appraisement & Facilitation (Central), Lahore, grew by over 66 percent in the current year as compared to the last year. According to statistics released by the Federal Board of Revenue, the total revenue of the department in April 2021 was Rs1,915 million. After Faiz Ahmad’s posting as Chief Collector, the revenue increased to over Rs2,905 million in April 2022, which showed a significant increase over the correspondent month last year.
Similarly, the revenue of the department was Rs2,337 million in May 2021, which increased to Rs4,352 million in May 2020. The total revenue collected by the department till May 2021 was Rs2,9264.9 million and under the leadership of Chief Collector Faiz Ahmed, the amount reached Rs6,5243.9 million till May 2022 in a year, which showed an increase of over 66 percent.
Chief Collector Faiz Ahmad is known for his integrity, hard work and excellent performance. Earlier, he set up a task force to curtail smuggling in the region. Lists of markets and godowns where smuggled goods and articles were dumped. He devised a strategy under which smugglers were intercepted on provincial borders, then inside Punjab, on the roads, in godowns and markets. Faiz Ahmad has vast experience of working at different key posts.
Earlier Faiz Ahmad performed his duties as Director IPR Enforcement (Central), Lahore. He also worked as Collector Preventive Lahore where he adopted different measures and introduced strict policies to halt smuggling and increase the revenue for the national exchequer.
He also set up a mobile phone registration system at Allama Iqbal International Airport. He increased the number of facilitation counters at the airport in order to facilitate the passengers, carrying new mobile sets. He also set up a registration counter at the Customs headquarters and the air freight unit at the airport. He also successfully launched an operation to check the smuggling of facemasks during the pandemic. Faiz Ahmad also led a vigorous campaign against non-duty paid goods and the peddling of drugs and other contraband items. During his tenure at Lahore as Collector Preventive, he thwarted several attempts of smuggling of non-duty paid goods and dismantled many networks of smugglers who were operating from Peshawar and Quetta. Once his team impounded 34 non-duty paid vehicles and 26 others which were being used for transportation of smuggled goods. Under his supervision, Customs Preventive adopted a comprehensive policy to curb smuggling. Customs teams enhanced their vigilance and surveillance on main entry and exit points of Lahore. Customs Preventive also pursued the policy to get credible information through their reliable informers. Due to the policy, there was a significant decrease in smuggling in the region
