NATHU LA TRADE - FOURTH SEASON- INAUGURATED

GANGTOK:4 May 2009:
( Source: The Economic Times)

The fourth year of Indo-China peripheral border trade kicked off on Monday with a ceremony at Sherathang trade mart near Nathula border and Rinchengong trade mart on the Chinese side. Traders on both sides greeted each other and offered khada (silk scarf) and foodstuff.

The state department of commerce and industry officials with director Ujjal Gurung attended the ceremony. Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) personnel handled the entire show at the checkpost and trade mart centre with immigration and customs department of the government of India. President of the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce S.K. Sarda and others were present too. Trade between the two countries will remain open till November.

It is reported that trade at Nathula border has not shown the expected progress as the merchandise listed by both the governments in 1990s has become obsolete now and do not command market demand these days. The other two border trade points in Himachal and Uttarakhand also have been experiencing the same problem. Only one item, silk yarn, is doing well in Sikkim.

In fact, reports pouring in suggest that these three border trade points have now become dens for international smugglers. With the connivance of officials of central agencies, responsible for supervising border trade, unlisted items are entering our country in huge quantities.

When legal trade in Sikkim last year amounted to Rs 96 lakh, smuggled Chinese electronic items saw a hefty business of Rs 15 crore at this border. Government of India has taken some action by suspending and transferring guilty officials who were assigned to monitor the border trade. This has not improved matters so far.

According to reports of central intelligence wings, smuggled Chinese mobile sets have created havoc in the Indian market. It is reported that in the recent Mumbai terrorist attack, Chinese mobiles without any code numbers were found to be used for blasting. The ministry of telecom recently has directed all concerned to ensure that no service providers should issue any SIM card without obtaining the IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) number of the handset. It is observed that for quite sometime, bordering countries are going out of their way to intercept our mobile network. The department of telecom is now taking steps to check that.
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