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NEW DELHI, Sept. 20

IMPORT of 300 sensitive items being monitored by the "war room'' set up in the wake of removal of import curbs has shown an alarming growth of 25 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal.

An official release said the total import of 300 sensitive tariff lines for the period April to July 2002 has been Rs 4,477 crore, against Rs 3,588 crore in the same period the previous year. The Government, however, claims that this higher growth is almost entirely due to significant spurt in the import of crude palm oil and soya bean oil.

Thus, edible oil import with 27 tariff lines jumped from a level of Rs 2,119.77 crore in April-July 2001 to Rs 3,095.67 crore in April-July 2002.

While import of crude palm oil has gone up, that of refined soya bean and palm oil has gone down. Import of sunflower oil, both crude and refined, has also gone down.

Similarly, there has been a massive increase in the import of fruits and vegetables, which, with 48 tariff lines, rose from a level of Rs 237.20 crore during April-July 2001 to Rs 443.90 crore during the period under review.

Milk and milk products, too, with 22 tariff lines, more than doubled from Rs 6.88 crore to Rs 16.35 crore.

Products of concern to small-scale industry such as toys, writing instruments, tiles and glassware, too, went up from Rs 33.83 crore to Rs 37.98 crore.

Imports from Indonesia, Malaysia, the US, Ivory Coast and Switzerland have risen, while those from Australia, Argentina, Benin, Paraguay, Iran and Tanzania have dropped.

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