Satti Customs Office Collects 60% of Revenue Target in Eight Months, Officials Confident of Meeting Annual Goal

Kailali. The Satti Customs Office in Tikapur Municipality-9 has collected 60 percent of its revenue target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year. Although the customs office has collected 60 percent of the annual target, it appears that 40 percent of the revenue still needs to be collected in the remaining four months. The office had set a target of collecting NPR 158.449 million in revenue for the current fiscal year, but by the end of Falgun, it had collected NPR 96.241 million.

The office collected the lowest revenue in Shrawan at NPR 6.337 million. Office Chief Chakrabahadur Soni informed that although the target for Shrawan was to collect NPR 12.890 million, only 49.17 percent of the target was achieved. According to him, the highest revenue was collected in Mangsir at NPR 16.774 million, which is 138.51 percent of the target. In Mangsir, the customs office had a revenue collection target of NPR 12.110 million.

The office has collected more revenue than the target in four months out of the past eight months, while it failed to meet the revenue target in the remaining four months. According to the office, revenue exceeded the target in Asoj, Mangsir, Poush, and Magh. The target was not met in the remaining months of Shrawan, Bhadra, Kartik, and Falgun.

Customs Chief Soni claimed that the customs office will achieve its revenue collection target in the remaining four months. "The determination of the revenue collection target depends on the extent of goods imported," he said, "Based on the status of goods being imported through customs so far, we are confident that the target will be achieved." He mentioned that revenue collection faces challenges due to numerous incidents of smuggling because of the open border. Customs Chief Soni expressed confidence that if the customs office is upgraded and a quarantine facility is established, revenue collection will be in the billions, not millions.

Last year, the customs office collected 119 percent of its target, collecting NPR 143.782 million against a target of NPR 120.732 million. In the three preceding years, the customs office collected less revenue than its target. In the fiscal year 2080-81, against a target of NPR 120.147 million, only NPR 100.242 million was collected. Similarly, in the fiscal year 2079/80, the customs office, which had a revenue target of NPR 169.441 million, could only collect NPR 75.040 million.

The Satti Customs Office also failed to meet its revenue target in the fiscal year 2078-79. Against a target of NPR 205.861 million, the customs office managed to collect only NPR 106.793 million. In the fiscal year 2077/78, the customs office, which had a target of NPR 142.348 million, collected NPR 158.307 million in revenue.