Unloading of rotten wheat starts at Ctg

On behalf of the Indian exporter Prianka Overseas, local agent Arafat Trading started unloading the wheat from the lighter vessels at Sadarghat, Bangla Bazar, Chankhali and Asam Bengal ghats.

The exporter was allowed to unload the wheat on condition that he will pay duty for all the 26,500 tonnes of wheat in five instalments and the unloading started after paying duty for 4,000 tonnes in the first instalment, sources said.

The imported wheat carried by mother vessel MV Celtic reached Chittagong port on February 27 this year and was loaded into 30 lighter vessels.

Six of the lighter vessels were unloaded when the wheat was detected as rotten, and unloading from the remaining 24 vessels was suspended.

Aggrieved owners and workers of the lighter vessels enforced an indefinite strike on October 13.

On October 15, Chittagong customs and port authorities in a meeting with the concerned owners and workers agreed to allow the 24 stalled lighter vessels unload the wheat into Central Storage Depots (CSD) godowns of food department or any other godowns outside the port area and the strike was withdrawn the following day.

As per the decisions taken in the October 15 meeting, the unloaded wheat would be under the joint security protection of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and Chittagong Customs authority.

As per Section 78 of Customs Act, the concerned shipping agent Messrs Humayara Shipping Agency would remain the custodian of the wheat until its disposal.

The meeting decisions also include proper fumigation of the wheat before unloading, collection of the sample of the wheat by customs authorities before offloading from each coaster and weighing the wheat before sending to godowns.