RAUTAHAT, May 20: Customs officials of Gaur Customs Office have not paid attention towards the auctioning of vehicles that are gathering dust on the premises of the customs office. Those vehicles, if auctioned, can fetch millions of rupees immediately.
Due to the lack of attention of the customs office towards auctioning the vehicles worth millions of rupees, the spare parts of most of the vehicles have started to deteriorate.
Motorcycles and four-wheelers, which have been seized from different places at different time intervals, have been dumped at the customs office. The vehicles seized by the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force and handed over to the customs office have started deteriorating due to the exposure to sunshine and rainfall.
Around 25,000 motorcycles are dumped at the customs office complex. The haphazard dumping of the vehicles has made the customs office and BOP Gaur congested.
Vehicles worth millions stuck in customs due to lack of auction
If the vehicles are not auctioned soon, the customs office has to find land somewhere else to keep those vehicles. The space of the customs office, customs security guard’s quarters and the BOP have become cramped as the vehicles have been parked everywhere.
The customs office has more than 50 cars, jeeps, pickups and trucks. Most of the vehicles which were seized while they were operating smoothly have now stopped functioning.
The vehicles that could have been auctioned for millions of rupees will now have to be sold in junkyards as they are not fit to be auctioned anymore.
Non-gazetted first class officer of Gaur Customs Office, Rewati Rokka, said that the office had auctioned vehicles in FY 2073-074 BS and the vehicles seized after that period are yet to be auctioned.
Officer Rokka says that the customs office has sent a written letter to the companies concerned to open the model and chassis of the vehicles, but since there was no response from them, the auction process could not be undertaken.
Sources claim that the companies concerned are reluctant to give details because it will reduce the sale of motorcycles if they provide details about the motorcycles that are in the process of auction.
The locals have alleged that the customs office also auctions cows, bullocks, buffaloes, hemp, food grains and fertilizers for hefty commission, but does not pay attention to the auctioning of vehicles which can bring a lot more revenue to the country because it does not benefit the employees.
