The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry while criticising the FBR decision to shift CARE password facility for importers to Karachi, has demanded of the Federal Board of Revenue to review its decision and revive the old system of issuance of password from respective Collectorates.
The LCCI President Mian Muzaffar Ali, Senior Vice President Tahir Javaid Malik, Vice President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh and other office bearers, in a joint statement here on Saturday said that when the Customs Department introduced the custom care system it facilitated the importers in their home city by providing them the password for conducting their import procedures through CARE.
The system has now been changed and the importers are now required to personally go to Karachi to get the password. This is wastage of time and money and is in a way a directive to get the goods cleared at Karachi instead of clearing the goods at their nearest dry port.
"In the existing scenario when on the one hand the shortage of electricity, high mark-up and deteriorating law & order situation were playing havoc with businesses, the decisions like compelling the businessmen to visit various government offices are tantamount to add fuel to fire."
They said that the CARE system of Customs was evolved to get the things done in electronically and in an efficient way but it seems that quite a few government functionaries were working the other way round and instead of facilitating the businessmen, remain busy in creating hurdles in the way of smooth running of businesses.
"If the businessmen would be asked to visit Karachi office to get the password for clearance of their consignments, the very objective of introducing the system would die down on the one hand while it would also dent the business activities in the country," they added. The Chairman Federal Board of Revenue should look into the matter on priority basis in the larger interest of the businesses and the businessmen, the LCCI office-bearers added.