MUMBAI
AN EXORBITANT increase of 1,500 per cent in plant quarantine inspection fee and treatment charges has sent the import activities of timbers to a virtual halt.
The ministry of agriculture has issued a notification dated May 16, hiking the quarantine inspection fee and treatment charges from Rs 40 to Rs 600 per tonne with immediate effect. The notification refers to the imports of plants, fruits and seeds.
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However, R T Somaiya, president of the Timber Importers Association, said timber logs were not coming under the definition of `plant'. But, the director of plant protection, quarantine and storage department got its definition madified so as to include `dead trees' within the ambit of the said definition. As a result, the dry timber logs are now treated as `dead trees' and Considered as `plants' for the purpose of levying inspection charges.
According to sources this would badly affect all the timber imports from Myanmar, New Zealand, West Africa, Malaysia etc; and it was absolutely arbitrary, highly unreasonable and unjustified.
Somaiya said about 10 vessels carrying about 80,000 tonne of timber have reached Indian ports such as Mumbai, Kandla, Calcutta, Mangalore, Tuticorin etc. As per the new charges, it will cost Rs 6 to 10 lakh for single visit of the inspector, which fakes at the most one hour because generally each consigtument has about 3,000 to 10,000 metric tonne.
"We, on the contrary, had requested the government to reduce the quarantine inspection charges to Rs 3.00 or to a maximum of Rs 5.00 a tonne from the present level of Rs 40.00," Somaiya claimed.
This will restrict the imports of timber which is already in short-suppply and may affect construction works, saw-mills, truck-body building, furniture etc, sources said.