PESHAWAR: The representatives of growers associations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have welcomed the government’s decision to abolish advance tax of Rs500 per kilogramme on tobacco crop.

In this regard, a meeting was held here the other day by representatives of tobacco growers, which was attended by members of Kisan Board Pakistan, Sarhad Agricultural and Rural Development Organisation, Pakistan Tobacco Growers Association, Anjuman Tahaffuz Huqooq Kashtkaran, Kashtkar Coordination Council, Mehnat Kash Labour Federation and Dealers Association.

They thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan and National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser for their efforts to abolish the advance tax on tobacco.

The participants said that tobacco crop was being cultivated in Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Malakand, Buner and Mansehra and thousands of growers earned their livelihood from this crop.

Representatives of tobacco growers and farmers’ associations from KP and industry labour unions of Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, Malakand, Buner and Mansehra also lauded the efforts by MNAs Shandana Gulzar, Sher Akbar Khan, Nafeesa Khattak and Ehsan Tiwana, MPA Aqibullah Khan, Federal Minister for Food Security Fakhar Imam and Abdul Kareem Khan for raising voice for withdrawal of the advanced tax on tobacco crop in the province.

They said that tobacco exports would improve gradually which would have a positive impact on the national economy. They hoped that now monopoly of multinational cigarette manufacturing companies would end.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2020