Consignee says the customs department is not acting on the delay.
Even as the customs department at Mundra has held a container that landed at the new Mundra port from Dubai a fortnight ago, the consignee has threatened agitation in a peaceful manner.
An agitated Abdul Kaiyume Haydar, the consignee, said, "We cannot wait any longer. We would knock the doors of the court as well as go forward with a peaceful agitation the Gandhian way."
Haydar, who is an Emam and Mutvill at Jama Masjid at Gorevali said that despite his numerous meetings with Mundra customs, nothing has worked out.
"I have met various heads of the agencies here which informed that they had already sent their reports to the customs and the matter now rested with them. However, they deny of having received any such reports from any agency.
Hayder said that it is the work of people who are anti-Islam, who have been spreading rumors about the imports.
The container contains 158 cartons with 3,000 copies of holy Quran and two religious books in Arabic, and some undeclared used electronic goods.
“Importing Quran is not illegal. We however want an interpreter to through all the old books for which we have requested several state agencies including the district collector. Based on primary investigations, it is found that the two books talk about the Afghan- Russia war.
Releasing undeclared miscellaneous items with a penalty would not be an issue but before handing over these items to Banni-based consignee in Gorevali, we want clearance from various central and state agencies, mainly from the State Intelligence which is against the delivery," Ashok Nagada, assistant customs commissioner at Mundra told DNA on Monday.
Interestingly, the container had come into suspicion mainly after port authorities received a letter from ND Solanki, superintendent of police of Western Railway which said of receiving a chit along with the timer bomb that was found at Anand railway station. The chit had a mention of the delay in delivery of Qurans. Nagada also said that he did not have much objection of the delivery but they cannot do so before they get a green signal from the agencies.
He also said that the Qurans were imported as they were printed on a better quality paper and was in original Arabic.
"One cannot get such copies here. Also, they were donated to my cleric father for free distribution in Banni where there are about 126 mosques," said Hayder.
He also added that his father had been a frequent visitor to Dubai in the past 15 to 20 years and has visited several countries including America where he was sent as part official delegation by the union government a few years ago.
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