Peshawar - Halt to clearance of raw material at the Azakhel Dry Port, Nowshera has adversely affected ghee industries in merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leading to an increase in the prices of ghee, The Nation learnt here on Thursday.
It merits a mention here that the government has already announced amnesty for the erstwhile FATA/PATA regions in terms of taxes till June 2023. However, sources said the outgoing chairman FBR had announced to fix quota of palm oil, palm olein, etc, for which authorities need to determine the capacity of ghee mills.
The government has stopped clearance of the palm oil, palm olein at the dry port till the capacity determination of the ghee mills in the merged districts.
However, the clearance of the raw material was suddenly stopped even before the fixation of the quota, leading to a crisis for the ghee mills in the erstwhile tribal region. For quota fixation, the authorities would determine how much raw material a ghee mills needs actually.
Owner of Sher Ghee Mills, Shoaib Khan, told The Nation that first authorities should have fixed quota and then decided on other affairs.
Merged districts house around 165 ghee industries, which are on verge of closure due to unavailability of palm oil
“The former FBR chairman Dr Ashfaq, created this problem for the incumbent government by announcing to fix quota for ghee industries in merged districts. Now there is a huge quantity of raw material for ghee at Azakhel Dry Port but its clearance is stopped,” he added. He said on Wednesday alone, the ghee price had increased by around R50 in the Malakand district, one of the former PATA/tribal districts. He said that during last several days, the price of ghee had increased by more than Rs150 in the area.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Malakand Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that thousands of containers of the raw material were stuck for clearance at the dry port and the closure of the mills due to the crisis may lead to unemployment and other law and order issues too.
It merits a mention here that the government has already announced amnesty for the erstwhile FATA/PATA regions in terms of taxes till June 2023. However, sources said the outgoing chairman FBR had announced to fix quota of palm oil, palm olein, etc, for which authorities need to determine the capacity of ghee mills.
The government has stopped clearance of the palm oil, palm olein at the dry port till the capacity determination of the ghee mills in the merged districts.
However, the clearance of the raw material was suddenly stopped even before the fixation of the quota, leading to a crisis for the ghee mills in the erstwhile tribal region. For quota fixation, the authorities would determine how much raw material a ghee mills needs actually.
Owner of Sher Ghee Mills, Shoaib Khan, told The Nation that first authorities should have fixed quota and then decided on other affairs.
Merged districts house around 165 ghee industries, which are on verge of closure due to unavailability of palm oil
“The former FBR chairman Dr Ashfaq, created this problem for the incumbent government by announcing to fix quota for ghee industries in merged districts. Now there is a huge quantity of raw material for ghee at Azakhel Dry Port but its clearance is stopped,” he added. He said on Wednesday alone, the ghee price had increased by around R50 in the Malakand district, one of the former PATA/tribal districts. He said that during last several days, the price of ghee had increased by more than Rs150 in the area.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Malakand Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that thousands of containers of the raw material were stuck for clearance at the dry port and the closure of the mills due to the crisis may lead to unemployment and other law and order issues too.
