Jaipur: The Rajasthan Small Industry Corp. Ltd. (RAJSICO), a state PSU, is the sole custodian of Air Cargo Complex (ACC) handling export and import cargo at Jaipur Airport since the very beginning. But in the second week of January, BCAS (Bureau of Civil Aviation Security) warned airlines not to pick any export cargo from the facility.
BCAS said that RAJSICO has not taken security clearance of cargo handling area and if airlines pick up cargo from the complex, they will have to pay heavy penalty.
Since then, all exports from the city airport has stalled, forcing exporters to send their consignment from Delhi which involves additional transport cost and other material handling charges.
An official in RAJSICO said that even if they want to apply for security clearance, AAI objects to providing map of the cargo handling area, one of the requisite documents to apply for the permission.
He said RAJSICO pleaded with AAI to provide any other space where cargo could be handled so that export could go on smoothly, but the same remained unheeded by AAI.
Rajiv Arora, president of Federation of Rajasthan Exporters, said, “I have requested industries secretary Ashutosh Pednekar and the chief minister’s office to intervene and take it up to authorities in central government and civil aviation ministry to resolve it earliest in the interest of exporters of Rajasthan.”
Arora said he also brought this issue to the notice of chief secretary Niranjan Arya. “He assured that the state government will take up this issue and talk to concerned people in the central government to resolve it,” added Arora.
Meanwhile, exports from Jaipur airport has ground to a complete halt. The situation may lead to loss of buyers in overseas markets for the delayed delivery of consignments.
Suresh Agarwal, president of Federation of Rajasthan Trade and Industry (FORTI), said, “Regional director of BCAS has stopped the screening and storage of cargo at the Air Cargo Complex. As a result, valuable and common cargos, including perishables, have been pending for exports for the past 20 days. This has stalled Rajasthan’s exports and is hurting the industry and business.”
30/01/21 Srikanta Tripathy/Times of India
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