Ports in AP affected by import restrictions

Nellore: Andhra Pradesh has been receiving scant support from the Centre despite concerted efforts to develop its existing ports and set up new ones to augment the fund-starved state's revenue through foreign trade.
According to sources, Visakhapatnam port has been writing letters to the Centre since the last decade and Krishnapatnam since the last four years to notify them regarding the export and import of drugs. (Currently, only Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Kandla ports are allowed to handle the drug trade.) The Ministry of Health gave the clearance, but not the gazette notification, the reason being the absence of an Additional Drug Controller (ADC) wing in the state.

Clearance from the ADC is mandatory for the import or export of drugs and this initiative has to come from the Union government. Similarly, clearance from the animal quarantine station is necessary for the export of meat and other related products from AP ports, but the Centre has made no move to establish the facility yet. The latest blow to the Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam ports is a ban on the import of apples. The two ports have imported nearly 2,000 container loads of apples between 2014 and 2015 and now, the ban has hit their revenues. Moreover, the cost of apples will go up since the fruits have to be transported from other states.

Though the government has imposed a ban on the import of apples to all ports except Mumbai, the restriction was relaxed for Cochin, Chennai and Kolkata ports after lobbying by the respective governments, but not for AP's ports despite Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu taking up the issue with Union minister of state for commerce Nirmala Sitaraman. Similarly, the request for import of cars, animals and animal products from both the ports is also pending with the Centre.

The CM had written to the Centre to permit Visakhapatnam and Krishnapatnam to import drugs and cars, but there had been no response and such a stance was not conducive to the CM's efforts to transform the state into one of the best in the country, according to an officer at Krishnapatnam port.