The dilapidated old auction house occupying about 5 acres of land inside the Chattogram Port is finally being vacated. Demolition of 35-year-old spoiled and rotten products in this shell has started. The Chattogram Customs Authority will destroy about 421 tonnes of goods in a total of 878 lots. These products include manure, rotting meat, various types of waste cloth etc. These products have been in this shell for 35 years and have almost been wiped out.
According to customs sources, the rotten products of the auction will be dumped in the dump station of Chattogram City Corporation in Halishahar from Wednesday. For this, adequate supply of covered vans has been ensured.
The rotten products will be picked up in these covered vans and locked with seals and taken to the dumping station by the customs officer. There, the products will be destroyed in the presence of representatives of Divisional Commissioner, District Administration, City Corporation, Police, BGB, Environment Department, Fire Service and intelligence agencies.
Meanwhile, the port plans to remove the auction shell and build a container yard there. For this reason, the port authority has constructed a new auction shed opposite the port stadium in its own place and with its own funding at a cost of Tk 26 crore.
On September 2, 2015, after the then Naval Minister Shahjahan Khan inaugurated the new auction shed, the Port Authority explained it to the Chattogram Customs, but even in the last 7 years, the Chattogram Customs could not explain the old auction shed to the Port Authority.
Anupam Chakma, Deputy Commissioner of Auction Branch of Chattogram Customs House, said that recently the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister insisted on vacating the auction hall occupying space inside the port.
Chattogram Customs authorities have been working for a long time to clear it. Already 110 fragile and perishable cars have been removed to free up the old auction house, which houses two jobs.
Now there are 878 lots of rotting products, the work of destruction has started and it may take some time to finish it consistently, he said.
We plan to remove them within a week. Customs authorities re-inventoried the goods in September last year to clear the auction block. Last May 24, the then Deputy Commissioner of Auction Branch of Customs House Ali Reza Haider issued a public notice.
The notification directs the claimants or the highest bidders to take possession of the goods in the old auction round within 30 days. Otherwise, the customs authority will decide on the products assuming that there is no claimant for those products. Lists are also published to identify products. As a result of this public announcement, the shells are being emptied.
Earlier, another public notice was issued by Chattogram Customs on October 11 last year to vacate the auction shell.
It is said that the inventory process of all the lots is ongoing with the aim of disposing of the various products kept in the old auction shell.
The old auction round has a variety of goods and cars from a long time ago.
If a bidder has previously participated in any auction or has been selected as the highest bidder and there is any importer's suit and any other order against the concerned lot/vehicle, the auction wing of customs must be intimated within seven days along with suitable evidence.
Considering that there is no claimant for those goods, the customs will dispose of the product lots legally.
The customs authority is now destroying the products by making repeated announcements that there is no claimant for the products.
