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Wednesday 12 June 2013

Cambodian sand awaits quarantine chit






KOCHI: In a land where sand is prized as gold dust, a consignment worth Rs 8.96 crore from Cambodia is lying untouched at the Cochin Port wharf for the last two months.

Sand - nearly 32,000 tonnes - was off-loaded from the ship but without a quarantine certificate, the customs department, Kochi, will not allow importer, Raja Steel Private Limited, Coimbatore, to move the cargo.

The Centre allows import of sand but Plant Quarantine Code, 2003, insists on quarantine certification to bring in soil. "Imported soil can contain biological materials and may contaminate native soil,'' a customs official told TOI.

M Raja, managing director, Raja Steel, said sand was ferried to India through several ports, including Cochin Port, without quarantine certificate. "We don't know why we are being singled out,'' he said.

A customs official told TOI that the department was aware of such a practice, as respective customs commissioners use their discretionary power for a "one-time sanction" since sand had already landed at the port.

"We understand the firm plans to import sand on a regular basis and it would require the certificate," the official added.

Getting quarantine certificate is easy but expensive, hence the importer's reluctance.

Raja said he would have to pay Rs 1.28 crore to the quarantine testing laboratory in Faridabad for the certificate, in this case, including penalty fee.


"The customs department has not issued a clear notification on quarantine requirement for sand import. We cannot be paying the price for their mistake. We are now paying a huge amount as demurrage to the Cochin Port for not clearing the cargo,'' Raja said.

The company has plans to import 2 lakh tonnes of sand every month through the Cochin Port.

People familiar with the state's sand deficit said the requirement for sand would go up to 30 million tonnes by 2020. A source in Kerala Mining and Geology department said Kerala will have to look at import as a solution to its sand deficit.

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