Rain showers losses on traders as goods damaged at ICP

Traders involved in importing different items from Pakistan at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) on the Attari border near Amritsar have claimed losses totalling crores of rupees as the imports, especially gypsum, had been damaged due to unloading in waterlogged area in the wake of the downpour in the city on Saturday.

Traders involved in importing different items from Pakistan at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) on the Attari border near Amritsar have claimed losses totalling crores of rupees as the imports, especially gypsum, had been damaged due to unloading in waterlogged area in the wake of the downpour in the city on Saturday.

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A team of Confederation of International Chamber of Commerce and Industry visited the ICP and saw truckloads of gypsum from Pakistan unloaded in the open waterlogged grounds by the Central Warehousing Corporation, the custodian of the land port.

The Chamber had last month brought the problems to the notice of the CWC and Land Port Authority of India and requested for the construction of concrete platform or earmarked paved area for unloading of gypsum or proper drainage at the site, but in vain. The importers had also pointed out that materials imported from Pakistan were left in the open.

A leading importer of gypsum, Iqbal Singh Bedi, said, "We have apprised the ICP authorities that importers have suffered losses of about Rs 2.50 crore during the current rainy season. We are already suffering because the buyers deducted more than Rs 3 crore for impurity analysis from invoices during the last financial year. Thus gypsum importers faced serious fund crisis."
Blaming the authorities for these lapses, the Chamber demanded that the government must compensate the importers for the losses.

Bedi demanded that immediate steps be taken to protect loose material and construction of proper platforms to save those involved in bilateral trade.