Fruits for royals rotting at TIA BISHNU BUDHATHOKI KATHMANDU, Dec 16 - Fruits imported by the Royal Palace have remained unclaimed at the Customs Office at Tribhuvan International Airport for over seven days. According to a source, four cartons of fruits were brought by a Nepal Airlines flight about a week ago from New Delhi. Later, some officials from the palace had reached the Customs to collect the fruits. But they returned empty-handed when the Customs Office asked them to produce a delivery order, which is required to pay customs duty. "We need a delivery order to release such goods," a customs official said preferring anonymity. However,officials could not reveal what types of fruits were in the cartons. According to the Finance Act, any consignee has to clear 8 percent agricultural development tax and 1.5 percent local tax before collecting any agricultural product. "Before the April uprising, such goods were sent directly to the palace without even considering customs duty and other charges," the official said. According to another government official, the royal palace used to import tropical fruits like Rambutan, Mangosteen and Dorian from Thailand and Misti Dahi (sweet curd) from Bangladesh. "Besides, it used to import delicious Frolic dog foods from Germany," he said. Frolic is a well-known and very successful brand of Masterfoods in Germany with a broad range of dog food products. The palace used to bring women's blouses and other clothing from Karol Bagh. Similarly, several mouth watering fruits, medicines and pigeon anklets also came from India. Before April 2006, such goods were imported through the "diplomatic cargos destined for Narayanhiti Royal Palace that used to be delivered to Nirmal Niwas, Jeewan Kunj and the Royal Palace," he said. Not only was customs waived, even NAC (then RNAC) carried every royal cargo for free, said a cargo official. "Army personnel or officials from the palace would reach the airport along with army vehicles to fetch such goods," another airport official said. After the restoration of democracy in April, the reinstated House of Representatives made a historic proclamation on May 18 declaring that all royal property and income of the king, including royal family members, would be taxed. The palace had collected 50 pieces of rechargeable torch lights and a Hunting Trophy by paying Rs 130,702 customs duty and other charges last week, which was the first recorded case of the royal palace paying customs in the history of this country.