Postal dept refuses to clear parcels from UAE

Kochi: Around 10,000 parcels in 28 containers from the United Arab Emirates are lying untouched at Kochi Port for more than a month, with the consignee, the Indian Postal Service (IPS), refusing to clear the same. Sources say a dispute between the Emirates Post and IPS is behind the latters reluctance to take charge of the consignment.

The parcels have come under a scheme of Emirates Post, which allows customers to send 35 kg of duty-free items with a delivery time of four weeks. The parcels usually arrive by air. After their arrival in India they are received by the Foreign Post in Kochi.

After customs clearance, IPS distributes the parcels to the addressees free of cost. But this time the containers arrived by ship and have been lying with the clearing agents for over a month. The parcel charges levied by the Emirates Post itself will come to over Rs 2 crore.

With delay in receiving the consignment, the clearing agent, Ancheri Agencies, the sources say, is demanding demurrages to the tune of Rs 7.5 lakh. When contacted, a spokesman for the clearing agent confirmed that the containers have been lying with them for over a month but denied that they had demanded any demurrage for the containers. The parcels that came till the first week of June 2002 have been cleared and received by the IPS.

The Foreign Post also confirmed that they have been receiving complaints in this regard but is helpless because the order for clearance has to come from the superintendent of cargo services. Though the nature of the dispute is not clear, the sources say it is the process of shipment, by containers, that has caused the current crisis.

Denying that IPS had earlier cleared parcels from the Emirates Post that were shipped in containers, senior superintendent T J John says his office has not given any orders in this regard. I am not aware of the container process as the parcels usually arrive by air. It could have been an arrangement reached between the Emirates Post and the container service. And I am helpless as I can the order only after receiving orders from IPS.

About 10,000 non-resident Keralites, who are in the state mostly for the Onam holidays, are running from pillar to post hoping that the authorities will intervene. Says Girish Kumar Menon, a Gulf-returnee: Its not clear who will pay the demurrages. We are not even sure if the parcel is insured. The authorities here have been issuing contradictory statements. Service ethics demand that they send the parcels back.

Despite the month-long crisis, the Emirates Post is still shipping consignments under the scheme.