While welcoming the state government’s decision to set up Inland Container Depots (ICD) in Srinagar and Jammu cities, the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industries – Kashmir (CCIK) said authorities should allow custom bonded movement of goods from Kashmir to seaport to reduce the costs.
“Setting up of an ICD will require time and it may be few years from now that we will see it actually starting to function.
Till such time we suggest that arrangements be made by the concerned authorities to facilitate customs bonded movement of goods directly from Kashmir till seaports which will not only reduce our costs but also enable hassle free movement of our goods upto destination,” a spokesperson of CCIK said, in a written statement.
He said it is a well known fact that moving out export goods from Srinagar involves lot of logistics and adds to costs thereby making the products expensive and non–competitive. “We have to first dispatch the goods upto exit points by surface and after customs clearance at the port they dispatch these to destination. This involves a lot of handling besides additional costs and sometimes pilferage, breakage and damages,” he said.