QUETTA: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has created the post of district taxation officers in all 32 districts of Balochistan aiming to provide facilities to people of the province in connection with tax collection.

Speaking at a ceremony held for the inauguration of a new office of the regional tax officer, Quetta, here on Saturday, FBR Chairman Dr Mohammad Irshad said that appointment of district taxation officers in all districts of the province would create job opportunities for the educated youth at district level.

Chief Commissioner Income Tax, Baloc­h­istan, Nazeer Ahmed Shoro, Commissioner Income Tax, Balochistan, Sahabzada Abdul Mateen, Collector Customs, Quetta, Saeed Ahmed Jadoon and a large number of other officers were present on the occasion.

Dr Irshad said that the FBR was making all-out efforts for expanding the tax net so that maximum taxes could be collected and the government could have enough financial resources for solving problems being faced by the poor people. He said the government through its efforts was promoting the tax culture in the country.

He said that with joint efforts the government and FBR would create job opportunities and provide health and education facilities to the people of Balochistan.

Talking about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the FBR chairman said Balochistan would be the main beneficiary of the mega project.

“New ways of development and prosperity would be opened with the implementation of the CPEC,” he said, adding that the mega project would generate more resources for the speedy development of Balochistan.

He said under the CPEC many projects had been launched in Balochistan.

Taking about shortage of human resources in the FBR’s Quetta office, Dr Irshad said the issue would be resolved soon. He said when his attention was drawn towards the requirement of new offices he worked on it seriously and now the issue had been resolved.

He said the aim of his visit to Quetta was to get awareness about problems being faced by the people of Balochistan, especially the business community.

He lauded the performance of the Quetta Customs Collectorate and said that nobody would do injustice with the business community of Balochistan.

Earlier, inaugurating the State Customs Warehouse in the Luck Pass area, Dr Irshad said the issue of human resource shortage in Quetta’s Customs Collectorate would be resolved so that effective steps could be taken against smuggling in Balochistan. Smuggling was affecting the country’s revenue target. The FBR, he added, was taking steps to discourage informal economy as without stopping smuggling the country’s economy could not be revived.

“We will provide human resources and other facilities to the Quetta Custom Collectorate to curb smuggling,” Dr Irshad said, adding that establishing the customs warehouse in the Luck Pass area would help in curbing smuggling. He appreciated performance of the Model Collectorate Customs, Quetta, and said it had collected more revenue than the target.

He said local people would be recruited in the customs department because it would be helpful in curbing smuggling in the province.

Director Customs Intelligence Ashraf Ali, Additional Collector Customs Dr Fareed Ahmed Khan and other senior officers were present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017