Amausi air cargo facility, a bad take-off!

The air cargo facility at the Amausi has become a laughing stock for city exporters and importers. The quantum of import went up from barely 10 during April to December 2003 to a paltry 13 during the similar period in 2005-06.
This resulted in zero import during April, May and September 2005-06.Likewise, the magnitude of exports between April and December 2003 jumped from 38 to 125 during April-December (2005-06) period.
The basic reason has been high air cargo rates which keep small exporters away.While the total revenue collection during 2005-06 stood at Rs 1.29 crore, which included collection of import duty (Rs 80.99 lakhs), unaccompanied baggage ( Rs 44.79 lakhs), export cess (Rs 357), education cess ( Rs 34,340) and other collections ( Rs 1,020), the central governmentt’s “duty drawback” scheme brought a revenue deficit of Rs 15.89 lakhs during 2005-06, sources said.
The air cargo facility at the Amausi got operational on July 27, 2000. Since then it completely depended on the air cargo lifted and brought by the Air India flights to and from Jeddah, Sharjah and Dubai.
11/04/06 Santosh Chowdhury/Hindustan Times

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