Summary:
Mumbai, Nov 24 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday exhorted customs officials at the country"s largest container port JNPT to ensure adequate publicity for the destruction of narcotics.
The finance minister, who was on a visit to the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), also urged customs officials to aim for "zero daily assessment pendency" and faster release of cargo, an official statement said.
The comments come weeks after the confiscation of a very large quantity of narcotics substances at JNPT"s biggest competitor, the Adanis-run Mundra Port, and the subsequent reports of the port in Gujarat banning all shipments from Iran.
"She said adequate publicity should be given for destruction of narcotics," the official statement quoted the finance minister as saying.
"Sitharaman also asked the officers to speed up disposal of hazardous goods and desired that quasi-judicial process, if any, be carried out in a manner to achieve disposal within three months of import," the statement added.
Sitharaman travelled to the port, located off the Mumbai harbour to the east, in a ferry from South Mumbai"s Gateway of India and was given an overview of the activities at the port by customs officials and chaired a meeting later.