Nathu la - trade comes to halt – procedure is the problem
India-China trade resumed after 44 years with much fanfare at the high Nathu La pass has come to a grinding halt, thanks to the diligence of Customs officers. They refused transit of goods unless traders furnished their import-export code number issued against their Permanent Account Number. Fine, what is the problem? The problem is there is no PAN in SikkimSikkimhas its own Income Tax Manual and there is no PAN.
How did the Customs allow clearance without code number for the first few weeks and why did they suddenly start demanding it? Why didn’t somebody think of this earlier when the pass was opened with great hype as the highest customs station? What is going to be our image abroad when we tell traders outside that we are not able to export because there is some code number missing and how do we explain the exports for a few days? We made rules for our convenience and now the rules rule us.