Farmers warn of protest

Islamabad
Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) on Friday warned that if the government does not accept their demands within one week then they would place their tractor-trolleys on all highways in Punjab, blocking them for all kinds of traffic.
Addressing a news conference here, PKI president Khalid Mehmood Khokhar said duty-free agricultural commodities are being imported from India and the government is imposing taxes on their products to give benefit to those elements involved in this practice.
“No government department is ready to purchase rice from the farmers who are facing extreme difficulties to sell their agricultural products in the markets. We need only Rs1.5 billion to strengthen our position that would enable us to break the begging bowl,” he said.
He said the government must give answer to why duty-free tomato worth Rs15 billion was imported from India in one year despite the fact that its production cost at the local level rose dramatically due to number of new taxes imposed by the incumbent regime.
Khokhar said the government should not announce agricultural package for the farmers because if it really wants to give them relief then it should remove general sales tax on the agricultural products.
He said the government must impose agricultural emergency for two years to help farmers improve their socio-economic conditions in the face of increasing taxes and anti-farmers laws.
The PKI president said the middlemen purchase bag containing 120 kg of potato for Rs700 and then sell it for Rs60 kg, depriving the farmers of their due share in the profit. He pointed out that the Nawaz-led government announced subsidy worth Rs14 billion on fertilizers in previous annual financial budget but it took no measure to implement its own decision.
“The government promised to purchase cotton for Rs3,000 but failed to honour its announcement. Then it made commitment to ensure ban on duty-free import of agricultural products and again it failed to take any step in this regard,” he said. Khokhar said the government raised the price of gas one week before announcement of the relief package for the farmers due to which the rate of the urea bag has increased up to Rs2,000.
He urged the government to bring down the prices of the urea and make an end to general sales tax on the agricultural products to provide immediate relief to the farmers who are finding it hard to make both ends meet. The PKI president said there is an urgent need to give subsidy to farmers on various agricultural products as announced by the government besides removing all kinds of taxes otherwise the farmers would be left with no other option except to come to roads against this government.