The ten trucks carrying relief material from Holland for tsunami victims in Tamil Nadu finally rolled on today.The trucks were stranded at the Wagah border checkpost for the last five days with the Customs Department insisting that they pay customs duty which added up to around Rs 10 lakh. But the NGO from Holland wanted the duty to be waived off considering that the material was being taken for humanitarian aid.‘‘They (NGO) submitted the required documents and the trucks were given a green signal,’’ said a senior Customs official.‘‘It took five days for the Customs officials to wake up and give us permission to enter India for taking aid to the victims,’’ said Dr Nicolien Karoona, director of NGO Motherhood. ‘‘Before we started out with the material through European and Asian countries, the Holland-based Indian Embassy had said we would not face any problem. But we had to undergo a lot of hardship,’’ she said as she left the city.‘‘Now that we have received the communication from Delhi and the NGO has submitted the required documents for taking the material without paying the customs duty, we have cleared them,’’ said Assistant Commissioner Customs, P.S. Bisht.
