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The customs authorities in Delhi helped a woman get the personal belongings of her brother who recently passed away in the US, by waiving off the customs duty on the parcel.
The humanitarian gesture comes after the deceased's sister Subhra Goyal sought the authorities' help through Twitter to get her brother's belongings, sent to India by the US authorities through a private courier.
On Saturday, September 19, Subhra tweeted in Hindi tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "Our family is not in a position to pay customs duty now. Hence you are requested to kindly get the customs duty waived on his (her brother) last memories and help the family in this difficult times. Our family will be lifelong indebted to you."
The parcel was lying at the New Courier Terminal in Delhi with the courier company and was not yet presented for customs clearance, according to a senior Delhi customs official.
PTI quoted the official as saying, "Any import consignment coming through courier comes to Indian customs for clearance when the courier company files a courier bill of entry (BoE). Indian customs do not even have knowledge of a shipment till the BoE is filed."
However, the Delhi Customs took to twitter on Sunday, September 20 and informed that the shipment has been cleared with 'NIL customs duty."
"We extend our sincere condolences to the family & may the almighty give them strength to bear the loss of a loved one. In this case @FedExIndia had not filed the BoE, which was filed at the behest of Indian Customs & shipment has been cleared with NIL customs duty & demurrage," the Delhi Customs tweeted.
Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, also tweeted that the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and Delhi Customs had taken immediate action to expedite the process upon her request.
Subhra's mother, Nisha Goyal, who works in Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) appreciated the efforts of the customs authorities to offer humanitarian help and send them the parcel without any customs duty.
She also said that she received a call from the Assistant Commissioner of Customs who informed her that the shipment has been released and it will be delivered to her soon.
"I feel relaxed. Those items in the shipment are all I have as my son's last memory," Nisha said.
According to Subhra's tweet, the deceased - Arpit Goyal - died in Buffalo city in the United States of America on August 26. Early this year, he had gone to the US to pursue a Masters in Computer Science.
On September 5, the family received Arpit's body from the US. The US authorities had also sent them his important documents along with a laptop, which reached Delhi on September 18, 2020.
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