National News

PESHAWAR , June 05, (APP): Senior Vice President (SVP) Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Agriculture (KPCA) Fazal-e-Elahi Khan has welcomed the decision of federal government to introduce a new tier to document and curb the menace of illicit trade of sub-standard low priced cigarettes.
Fazal-e-Elahi appreciated finance minister Ishaq Dar for emphasizing in
his budget speech that the sale of illicit cigarettes should be checked as it resulted in loss of revenue for government and also posed a serious health risk due to lack of quality controls.
The declining demand for tobacco leaf has put the livelihoods of 75,000
farmers, 300,000 farm workers and 450,000 farm family dependents at risk.
The step to introduce a new tier would curb the menace of illicit trade
and protect the livelihoods of tobacco farmers and their dependents.
“The introduction of a new tier should reduce the demand for substandard
and smuggled illegal cigarettes. As a result, we are expecting the demand for tobacco leaf from all tobacco companies to increase, which will improve the livelihoods of farmers, workers and their dependents”, said Fazal-e-Elahi.