Vegetable exporters from Lahore on Thursday staged a protest demonstration at Badami Bagh fruit and vegetable market to protest against the decision of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to ban export of onion from Wahgha land route.
The exporters blocked the road and chanted slogans against the decision. They also shutdown business in the fruit and vegetable market in protest. The exporters demanded that either the government should withdraw its decision or give them sometime to fulfil current export commitments.
Expressing his views, Shahbaz Mahmood Bhatti, an exporter from Badami Bagh said that the government should let them fulfil their existing commitments and then, after consultation with exporters and stakeholders, take a decision in this regard. He added that the exports had created a chance that farmers could get reasonable payment of their crop.
He claimed there is no chance of any shortage of onions due to export in the country as they have good stock of the crop. He feared that a sudden stoppage of export through the land route would also put their payments of already exported quantity in doubts.
The exporter criticised that onion export has only been banned through land route (Wagha), while exporters from Karachi are still able to export this commodity through sea. He questioned why such discriminatory attitude is being adopted towards the exporters of Punjab.
He claimed that 300-400 trucks loaded with onion were standing at Wagha border waiting for permission to cross over while the same number of trucks packed with the material is on their way to Wagha.
Comments
Comments are closed.