Jomsom: The Mustang customs office at North Korla Naka, which borders China's autonomous region of Tibet and Upper Mustang, has been without staff for a long time.
The Mustang Customs Office, which has a staff of seven including a branch office, has stopped sending staff after the inter-country trade fair was disrupted due to Corona Kahar.
The government had set up a customs office at Lomanthang Gapa Nechung in Upper Mustang for the purpose of an internal trade fair between Tibet and Nepal, an autonomous region of northern China. The Mustang Customs Office has not been staffed for the past three years due to lack of manpower and corona havoc in the department due to lack of manpower in the department.
Only one accountant and office assistant are present at the Mustang Customs Office, which has a history of four decades. According to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Mustang Customs Office has been inactive for the past three years.
The accountant assigned for the Mustang Customs has been assigned to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General and other government offices, while the office assistant is in charge of the office in Nechung. Although the Mustang Customs Office has 7 ropanis of land in Jomsom, the liaison office has been operating in a rented house for years.
Comptroller of the Fund Daleshwor Aryal said that the department has not been able to send staff Mustangs due to lack of staff at other customs offices and lack of staff at other times except for trade fairs held in June and August. He mentioned that the department used to deploy staff for the trade fair before Corona.
Comptroller Aryal said that the employees assigned by the department for Mustang customs would stay in Nechung during the fair to collect revenue and then return after completing their work. After the Khampa uprising in Tibet, an autonomous region of China, the Chinese side has been closely monitoring the North Korla checkpoint of Mustang with wires. Before the Khampa Rebellion, the Upper Mustangs reached Dhungwasen and Shigatse in Tibet and shared pastures in Korlapas.
Although the government has registered 1,000 ropanis of land for the construction of infrastructure including customs, dry port, immigration, quarantine, and security check post at the North Korla checkpoint of Mustang, which is being discussed after the Indian blockade, the government has not been able to give priority to the construction of infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Chinese side has finalized the construction of infrastructure at Korla Naka. The Comptroller of Fund Aryal said that the department will deploy staff for 12 months if there is a long-term operation of the checkpoint with the agreement between China and Nepal at the central level. However, the one-story Nechung Customs Office in Chooser of Mustang has become dilapidated due to the non-availability of customs staff.
However, the department has given authority to the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office Mustang regarding the mandatory liability of the customs office said Comptroller Aryal. For the current fiscal year, the customs department has allocated a budget to maintain the decades-old and dilapidated Nechung customs office building and to protect it by installing a compound wall on 7 ropanis of land in Jomsom in the name of customs.
It is expected that the presence of the customs in Korlapas will be active in the long run due to the interest shown by the department in maintaining the land in the name of Mustang Customs Office maintenance and customs. The Mustang Customs Office used to collect Rs 800,000 to Rs 1 million in revenue from the annual trade fairs in June and August.
Residents of the border area are in trouble as the Mustang customs office has not been operational for the past three years due to the Corona disaster. Despite repeated requests to the government through the local administration about the trade fair, no concrete initiative has been taken to conduct the fair.
