KARACHI: Importers have strongly decried the attitude of Port Muhammad Bin Qasim Deputy Collector Athar Naveed, who pays no heed to the grievances of traders, despite the fact that he is the head of the principal appraiser and the appraiser.
Importers said they found Athar Naveed always engaged in eating breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks, or taking nap in his office, while the importers had to wait outside for three to four days to report this matter.
Perturbed by the delay in clearance of their consignments at the Port Muhammad Bin Qasim, the victimised importers informed Customs Today that the stubborn attitude of officials at Port Qasim and the inability of Deputy Collector Athar Naveed to facilitate traders caused difficulties for the importers, besides tarnishing the image of Pakistan Customs. Importers stated that no government office allows its officers to take meal and nap five times a day during office hours.
They also said that the deputy collector, using delaying tactics in the process of clearing consignments, makes them wait outside for as long as three to four hours. Moreover, he usually delays the clearance saying that relevant documents are incomplete, and that the importers should bring more documents. According to importers, this red tape has marred their businesses.