As Customs House at the country's main seaport is reeling under an acute shortage of manpower, 'outsiders' get involved in carrying out the customs-related activities.
More than one hundred outsiders interfere in the customs official procedures at the Chittagong Customs House (CCH) due to dearth of manpower.
Several customs officials in the revenue board and CCH acknowledged their vibrant presence at the customs house.
Official data showed that the revenue target set for the CCH having a total of 500 officials is Tk 400 billion for the fiscal year 2016-17 while the number of officials was 550 when the revenue target was set at Tk 1.79 billion.
There is a need for conducting customs procedures urgently, but the CCH is operating with only 28 per cent of its required manpower, said a senior customs official.
Sometimes customs officials have to seek help from these outsiders to cope with workload, he added.
Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has recently sent an intelligence report on the CCH regarding its operational problem due to presence of these outsiders.
Dr Moinul Khan, Director General of the CIID, sent the report to the NBR for taking necessary action against these people, expressing concern over security threat.
Even though CCH is the highest revenue earner of the country, it is operating with half the manpower approved for it. There is an acute shortage of manpower from joint commissioners to lower ranking officers.
CCH collected Tk 312.44 billion as revenue in the fiscal year 2015-16.
Two posts of joint commissioners out of five while 37 posts of deputy/assistant commissioners out of 63 are lying vacant apart from 57 posts of revenue officers and 321 posts of assistant revenue officers.
"The CCH is operating with one-third of proposed organogram for the house. Several hundred outsiders are becoming so important for conducting customs-related procedures due to manpower shortage," Mr Khan wrote.
Earlier, the CCH sent a list of these outsiders to the NBR for taking action against them. "The government's capacity to handle the customs procedures may be questioned due to involvement of these outsiders. Also, it is a threat to customs security system," the CIID report said.
The CCH will not be able to improve its services for the exporters and importers due to manpower shortage, it added.
Talking to the FE, a senior customs official said following instructions of NBR, the CCH recently issued an order to check interference of these outsiders. "The CCH will take stern action against the officials who will allow these outsiders for doing official work," he said.
CCH officials said the outsiders have remained involved in CCH's customs work for a long time. They know where files are kept. Customs officials are transferred after a certain period of time but they are not. Talking to the FE on Saturday, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president Abdul Matlub Ahmad and Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Mahbubul Alam said they are not informed about involvement of outsiders in customs procedures at CCH.
Mr Mahbub said adequate manpower should be recruited in the CCH. "It is against any rule and regulation to allow outsiders in customs related procedures," he added.
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