ISLAMABAD: A crisis of passport printing would take place in the country in case the Islamabad Customs department fails to timely clear consignments of ink cartridges of the Directorate General of Immigration and Passport Office.

In this regard, Directorate General of Immigration and Passport Office has written a letter to the Collector of Customs concerning the clearance of consignments of production consumables/ ink cartridges on a deferred payments basis.

The DG Immigration and Passport informed the FBR that due to the non-availability of funds or due to delay in processing claims pertaining to customs duties/ taxes, the department cannot clear the consignments in time, which causes difficulties in maintaining the passport operations.

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The directorate has informed the customs collectorate that a consignment of Ink cartridges is about to reach Islamabad International Airport on 28-07-2024 and needs clearance from Collector Customs for said consignment on an urgent basis. The vendor’s late dispatch of the required ink has resulted in a backlog of passports. This delay in passport printing could potentially lead to a national crisis, it said.

This Directorate General may be allowed to get the above-referred consignment of Production Consumable on a deferred payment basis, from customs to avert any crises, in the public interest, the passport office requested the Customs collectorate.

The Department does hereby undertake to clear the payments of customs on account of customs duties/taxes within 15 days from the day the consignments are released by customs authorities, it added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024