‘Automate Chattogram customs or return to manual, says commerce chamber VP

Full automation of Chattogram Custom House has not progressed at all, he says

A top business leader of Chattogram has criticised the National Board of Revenue over inconsistent automated and manual procedures at the Chattogram Custom House.

Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CMCCI) Vice-President AM Mahbub Chowdhury made the remarks at a round table discussion on NBR reforms on Saturday.

“For God’s sake, either automate it or put it back to manual. Help us survive,” he said.

Portraying the suffering of the Chattogram Custom House, Mahbub said: “The biggest problem is that its activities are half automated and half manual. Half the day is wasted standing in line.

“If you call the employee in his office about the work, he replies there is a long queue. But if it is automated, how can the work be delayed?

“If it is manual, three people will write the sheet and sign it. There is one computer operator per three groups. There is no printer.

“The files have to be copied to a pen drive and printed elsewhere. This is the kind of hassle at the Chattogram Custom House.”

He also criticised the inefficiency at Chattogram Custom House, saying automation there had not advanced “an inch” in two decades.