Govt asked to fix per kg price of tobacco, sugarcane

MARDAN: The Ittehad Kashtakaran Khyber Pakhtun-khwa on Wednesday asked the government to fix the per kilogram price of tobacco, sugarcane and wheat. Speaking at a news conference, Ittehad Kashtakaran Chairman Arif Ali Khan said the cigarette-manufacturing companies were exploiting tobacco farmers.

He said that under the law, the Pakistan Tobacco Board was required to set the tobacco rate by October 31, but this did not happen, making it difficult for the farmers to grow tobacco. The representative of the farmers said the crushing session of sugarcane had started but its per kg rate was yet to be fixed.

He said the federal government was taking Rs150 billion tax annually from tobacco, while the provincial government was receiving Rs80 billion, but they were least bothered to look into the problems of the farmers. Arif Ali added that the government was distributing the income earned from tobacco and sugarcane among the members of the assembly and no measures were being taken to give relief to the farmers.

He demanded the government to fix the Rs400 per kg price of tobacco, Rs5,000 for 50 kg wheat and Rs400 per kg for sugarcane.

He said the government should abolish tax on ghur and ban the transportation of the same from Punjab.