September 1: The government has decided to allow the import of peas and black pepper that have been stopped at the customs points. A cabinet meeting on Sunday, August 30, decided to allow the import of those peas and black pepper.

The food items are stuck at the customs points since the past five months because they were being imported without the prior approval of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control.

The government has decided to allow the import of only those peas and black pepper that were shipped before March 2020. Earlier a cabinet meeting held on April 30 had decided to ban the import of watermelon, chilly, dates and betel nut into Nepal.

Following the government's restriction, around 1,000 containers of unlicensed food were stranded at various ports including at Birgunj Dry Port and India.

However, the government has already lifted bans on import of betel nuts. Likewise, the government has decided to allow exporters to take back the black pepper.

In the meantime, government has initiated the process for returning 60 containers of chilly from the Birgunj Dry Port.

Importers who are not willing to take back the peas and black peppers will be allowed to import  the items. However, government is still unclear about what to do with the dates stuck at the checkpoint. According to the dry port’s customs office, about 100 containers of dates are stuck in the ports of Nepal and India.