Oz CWG cargo cleared after MEA intervention

The world champion vaulter’s poles were stuck at sea for the past 12 days due to delay in cargo-processing and procedure for customs clearance at Mumbai port. Also stranded were the sports gears of other members of Australia’s team for the Delhi CWG.

But after the Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) took up the matter with the Indian High Commission in Canberra, the vessel carrying the Aussies’ CWG cargo was docked late at night on Friday and the container was cleared by the customs by the early hours on Saturday.

Sources said the consignment was being sent from Mumbai to Delhi by train and it would possibly take close to a week to deliver the sports gears to the athletes at the CWG Village after an elaborate security check. The freight also included medical supplies for the sportspersons as well as furniture and other equipment required for the ACGA’s office in CWG village in Delhi.

The ACGA had sent the cargo from Australia to India almost five weeks back. Though the vessel reached the Mumbai port on September 6 last, it had to anchor offshore and wait in the queue to be docked, particularly due to a shipping backlog.
Indian High Commissioner in Canberra, Sujatha Singh, contacted the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi after receiving the complaint. The MEA officials on Friday got in touch with the Ministry of Shipping and customs authorities to ensure that the ACGA’s container was offloaded and despatched to Delhi after necessary clearance.
The Australian teams for the CWG 2010 will start arriving on September 27 next. But the ACGA had wanted the container to reach the games village by Saturday. Some of the Aussie officials would arrive in Delhi on Sunday.
DH News Service