As if devaluation of the rupee against
the dollar was not enough, Indian traders importing gypsum from Pakistan
through the Attari-Wagah land route have suffered huge losses after the
recent rainfall took a toll on the quality of the product.
Incidentally, gypsum is unloaded in the open inside the
Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari.
A spot visit by The Tribune team today found that the entire area allocated for unloading of gypsum at the ICP was waterlogged. Two Pakistani and an Indian truck were also stuck in a muddy area. The area in front of the sheds where cement is stored was also submerged in water.
Leading gypsum importer Iqbal Singh Bedi said, "While the decline in the value of rupee against the dollar has already hit imports from Pakistan, whatever gypsum we are importing is also not safe due to lack of infrastructure at the ICP. There is no concrete floor and shed where gypsum can be safely unloaded in case it rains."
Bedi said they had suffered a loss of about Rs 2.5 crore during the rainy season this year. He said those who bought this material deducted more than Rs 3 crore as impurity analysis from their invoices during the last financial year, due to which they faced a serious fund crisis. He said it was double trouble for them as declining rupee and rainfall had hit their trade hard.
He alleged the government was indifferent towards their plight and was not initiating any corrective measures despite charging them Rs 3 per tonne per day as storage charges at the ICP. He said the number of gypsum trucks arriving from Pakistan had dropped significantly due to these reasons. "It is down from over 100 trucks daily earlier to a mere 35-40 trucks per day now," he said, lamenting that there is no provision to drain out water due lack of proper drainage system at the ICP. He said they were not placing fresh orders due to the prevailing conditions.
A spokesman of the Confederation of International Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CICCI) said the matter had been brought to the notice of the Central Warehousing Corporation and Land Port Authority of India last month, but to no avail. He said they had requested construction of a platform or earmarked paved area for unloading gypsum.
The chamber has blamed the port authorities for the lapses and urged them to compensate the traders for the losses.
A spot visit by The Tribune team today found that the entire area allocated for unloading of gypsum at the ICP was waterlogged. Two Pakistani and an Indian truck were also stuck in a muddy area. The area in front of the sheds where cement is stored was also submerged in water.
Leading gypsum importer Iqbal Singh Bedi said, "While the decline in the value of rupee against the dollar has already hit imports from Pakistan, whatever gypsum we are importing is also not safe due to lack of infrastructure at the ICP. There is no concrete floor and shed where gypsum can be safely unloaded in case it rains."
Bedi said they had suffered a loss of about Rs 2.5 crore during the rainy season this year. He said those who bought this material deducted more than Rs 3 crore as impurity analysis from their invoices during the last financial year, due to which they faced a serious fund crisis. He said it was double trouble for them as declining rupee and rainfall had hit their trade hard.
He alleged the government was indifferent towards their plight and was not initiating any corrective measures despite charging them Rs 3 per tonne per day as storage charges at the ICP. He said the number of gypsum trucks arriving from Pakistan had dropped significantly due to these reasons. "It is down from over 100 trucks daily earlier to a mere 35-40 trucks per day now," he said, lamenting that there is no provision to drain out water due lack of proper drainage system at the ICP. He said they were not placing fresh orders due to the prevailing conditions.
A spokesman of the Confederation of International Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CICCI) said the matter had been brought to the notice of the Central Warehousing Corporation and Land Port Authority of India last month, but to no avail. He said they had requested construction of a platform or earmarked paved area for unloading gypsum.
The chamber has blamed the port authorities for the lapses and urged them to compensate the traders for the losses.
Indifference alleged
- Gypsum importers have accused the authorities of being indifferent towards their plight
- As gypsum is unloaded in the open at the ICP, the recent rainfall affected its quality
- The traders have accused the authorities of not initiating corrective measures despite charging them Rs 3 per tonne a day as storage charges
- They are not placing any fresh orders due to the prevailing conditions
- The number of gypsum trucks arriving from Pakistan has dropped from over 100 trucks a day earlier to a mere 35-40 trucks at present
Trade sluggish
The
bilateral trade remains sluggish for the last one month following the
devaluation of the rupee. CII Zonal Council chief Rajdeep Uppal said
only 70 to 80 trucks were arriving from Pakistan daily while the number
of trucks being sent across is also around 20 per day, it being a lean
season for exports. A leading clearing agent, Jaspal Singh, said the
exports will pick up only around mid-August when the new crop of
soyabean and cotton arrives. At present, the perishables are also not
being exported as vegetable prices are high in the domestic market
itself. He said Indian traders were importing cement, gypsum, soda ash
and dry dates from Pakistan, though no new orders had been placed.
