The Hindu : Parliamentary panel plea to Centre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 30, 2002

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National

Parliamentary panel plea to Centre

By P. Sunderarajan

NEW DELHI MARCH 29. A Parliamentary committee has taken up the cause of countless millions suffering from poor vision on account of the non-availability of a pair of spectacles at affordable cost.

In a report tabled in Parliament recently, the panel headed by the Telugu Desam Party MP, C. Ramachandraiah, asked the Centre to reduce the customs duty on machinery used for the manufacture of spectacles so that entrepreneurs would be encouraged to set up more such units. At present, the machinery attracts a basic import duty of 25 per cent, plus 16 per cent additional duty plus four per cent special additional duty. It has to be necessarily imported as no indigenous technology is available.

Making a presentation before the panel, the Department of Science and Technology said that despite its best efforts, no entrepreneur was prepared to put up the facility for the manufacture of spectacles. Apart from the high costs involved in importing the manufacturing equipment, there was also the problem of dumping of cheaper glasses by some countries. Generally two types of glasses, hard crown and flint, are used for ophthalmic purposes. While flint glass, which is used in bi-focal applications, is manufactured in the country to a limited extent by Bharat Ophthalmic Glass Limited, Durgapur, there is no indigenous manufacturing facility at all for hard crown glasses

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