Technology CHALLENGED:
Our nation stands tall on new age technology. At least that's what the world thinks. And our nation's shipping industry - specially the Customs' interface - bludgeons this very technology to a pain in the neck. Floppy drives & those boxy dot-matrix printers may be an extinct species else where in the world but they are lovingly nurtured & nourished in our Customs Departments. 2' wide and 3' long sheaths of punched papers groaning away laboriously under the tyranny of cantankerous dot-matrix machines and spitting out shreds of flying papers is a common scene in the offices of a shipping lines or their surveyors. As many as 8 to 12 gigantic copies (IGM) for each BL the country imports must be responsible for cutting down many innocent trees and greasing many greedy palms. Filing of the IGM is restricted to the end-carrier and the consignee's CHA has to run from forwarder to forwarder - assembling a collection of endorsements on the BL - before coming to the end-shipping line for delivery of his cargo. Nothing significant has changed in the last 10 years. And we need to force change - at least to stand in solidarity with the innocent green trees and the Little Indian's shriveling pockets.
Bangladesh had a completely manual system of filing IGM till a couple of years back, when India had this half-hearted mediocre system. But today, their system is advanced. Filing IGM is a simple online task. Even the registered forwarders can do their filing and don't have to run to the shipping line. The shipping line can declare as per the MBL. You can even do an amendment at any stage online. The charges for the amendments are directly deducted from your account. There is no need to submit hardcopies to customs. You can take one printout for yourself if you like, or else you can always check it online. No stamping and no endorsements from window to window. No need to grease palms for simple IGM filings or amendments. What a contrast to what we practice in Nhava Sheva and all other ports in India!
Not that you need a very high-end technology to automate these processes. A simple and relatively inexpensive database management system would do. Still this change is resisted with ferocious tenacity by the bureaucracy albeit nations's policy clearly stipulating computerization and cutting the face to face link of greasy palms. After years of struggle, when the SMTP process has been automated online, you still have to take a printout and run for a rubber stamping in the bureau for Rs 50/ - not to overlook the fact of submitting sheathes of documents and under-the-table dirty cash to get yourself registered for online transaction. This is so disturbing to be pushed around this way for so long. Are we not brave enough to raise our voices ? Or have we condemned ourselves to be victims and tolerate things unflinchingly like cows?
Brgds
Capt Rath
Econship Marine
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