A team of boulder exporters and officials from Bhutan Exporters Association left to Bangladesh today to sort out the boulder export issue from Gelegphu. This was decided during a meeting after several trucks were stranded in Gelepghu for more than a week.
More than 20 trucks ferrying boulders were held in Gelegphu after been denied transit permits by the Customs office. Officials discovered that to avoid taxes, exporters were declaring less than the actual amount of their consignment.
Bhutanese exporters have been collecting boulders from Mao River to export it to Bangladesh. But officials discovered that while exporters normally carry around 30 to 35 metric tons of boulders, they declare only 15 metric tons on their paper documents. This is done to avoid taxes.
Also, it was found that while the payment for the declared consignments by the Bangladeshi parties had to be made through banks, the payment for the extra undeclared boulders was done in cash.
With the weighing machine at the Customs office in Gelephu damaged for almost three months, the paper documents were accepted earlier.
Meanwhile, till the issue is resolved truckers say the delay is hampering their business.
“ The vehicles are not our own, we hire them. For one vehicle we have to pay Nu 45,000,” Gyembo Dorji, an exporter, said.
“We have already made two trips to Bangladesh. But after coming back, we are now not allowed to go. We don’t know what the problem is. It has been more than a week now,” Ganesh Bishukarma, a trucker, said.
“It has been around a week since we have been here. I don’t understand the issue, I just heard that there is some problem,” Tenzin Dorji, another trucker, said.
Boulders export business from Sarpang to Bangladesh started from November last year. There are 60 exporters in the dzongkhag.
