Mangalore Customs Celebrate International Customs Day
Mangaluru: The officers and staff of the Customs Commissionerate, Mangaluru celebrated the International Customs Day on Friday, January 27 along with other stakeholders viz., importers, exporters, customs brokers, special public prosecutor, airlines and officers from Central Excise & Service tax, Income Tax and state government officials.
The chief guest of the programme was Prof. K. Byrappa, Vice-Chancellor of Mangaluru University, Narotham Mishra, Principal Commissioner was the Guest of Honour and Dr M Subramanyam, Commissioner presided over the function.
In line with this year’s theme of the World Customs Organization “Data Analysis – Effective Border Management”, Dr M Subramanyam in his keynote address highlighted that levels of facilitation could be improved owing to proper data analysis thereby striking a right balance between facilitation and enforcement. It was highlighted that Customs is regularly monitoring the dwell time of import and export cargo which is currently about 5% and 21% respectively out of the total time taken to complete the activity. He also informed the gathering about the single window facility implemented last year which further enabled expeditious clearance and stated that in the rankings at the national level, the Commissionerate has consistently been standing in the top 10 performers.
The guest of honour, Narotham Mishra while complementing the efforts of officers in all areas of work, emphasized the growth in Customs revenue and highlighted that the risk management techniques adopted by the Department have been facilitating the trade to a greater extent.
The Chief Guest Prof. K. Byrappa while sharing his experiences with several customs formations across the world, emphasized the role of Customs officers as the border security agent, impressed upon to the need to train the officers with the latest scientific technologies to discharge their duties further efficiently in line with the changing technology scenario.
On this occasion, Udupi Power Corporation Limited was conferred the award of the best importer; Himatsingka Seide Ltd, Hassan as the best exporter and Meridian Freight Forwarders as the customs broker showing substantial growth in handling customs documents.
Commendation Certificates were also distributed to the outstanding officers at various levels.