Equating the customs department with the armed forces, crediting them defending the country’s economic borders, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that the customs department had performed exceptionally well during the Covid-19 lockdown and there was not a single complaint against them.
The minister also proposed a one-time Covid award for a customs and GST department which has performed well during the pandemic.
Speaking at an investiture ceremony organised by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and customs department, Sitharaman also told the GST department to not slack at all in revenue collection, especially, as the revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj pointed out earlier, tax relief on fuel and edible oil was likely to take a toll on collections in the last quarter of the current financial year.
“Post the lockdown and till the start of the second wave, Customs has done an extraordinarily good job. There was not even a whisper of complaint against the department. You cleared goods in time. I propose a one-time Corona response award for Customs GST authorities who have performed well,” she said. The minister also appealed to CBID to not slack in revenue collection. “The thirst to ensure that India remains on the current growth trajectory, GST collections, which are being used as a thermometer to assess the health of the economy, should be kept high. Unless the GST temperature is just right, the economy doesn’t feel well,” she said.
Appreciating the work done by the two departments during the lockdown, the minister said that the government recognised that they had been working against severe odds, including working from home without infrastructure. To assist with this, the government had decided to sanction computers for Group B officers and 9,200 computers had already been sanctioned.
Distributing certificates of appreciation to officers of CBIT and customs, the minister added that there should be a similar framework to also recognise CBDT officials.
However, stating her clear objection to the secretary’s appeal to women employees to apply for the recognition, the minister said that there were already very few women in the department and their work should be recognised without having to make them apply.
“This is so patronising. There are already such few women and their work should be seen and appreciated. I do not want the ladies to apply for this award,” she said.
Praising the work done by the customs department, Bajaj said that while several gold and drugs smuggling cases had been caught, the fact that so many cases were being reported was a cause for worry. He advocated greater surveillance and the need for technology.
“The revenue data till Thursday also looked but we cannot afford to be complacent. We performed exceedingly well during the Covid crisis but what we did during a crisis should become a norm,” he said.