NEW DELHI: A CAG report has expressed concern over uncleared cargo containing live bombs and war material scrap lying at various Inland Container Depots (ICDs) of the Customs Department for several years. 

In a report tabled in Parliament recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has asked the Revenue Department to develop a reporting mechanism to independently monitor uncleared cargo/container.

As per the test checked conducted by CAG (as on March 31, 2017) on 

85 ICDs and container freight stations (CFSs) that there were 469 containers of hazardous waste lying undisposed from periods ranging from 1 to 17 years.

The apex auditor has suggested that in order to address the risk of importers taking undue advantage of provisions norms, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (now Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) may review the provision so that abandoning of cargo is allowed only as the rarest of rare case. The report also noted that as on 

March 31, 2017, 7,877 containers occupying total storage area of 1.17 lakh square metres was pending for disposal. Out of these, 3,397 containers (57 per cent) had been pending for disposal for over 3 years.

CAG has also recommended that a website on ICDs and CFSs may be developed by the Department of Commerce where updated database and real-time information on operations of ICDs and CFSs could be accessed by all stakeholders.