Wheat transportation from India to Afghanistan: Collectorate to provide GD experts

LAHORE: The Collectorate of Customs Lahore will provide appraisers possessing expertise in scrutinizing goods declaration (GD) to facilitate transportation of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and medicine from India to Afghanistan.

A meeting was held at the Collectorate on Thursday where both the sides discussed the arrangements in detail, followed by necessary instructions to the department for further action. Transportation of Indian wheat for the Afghan government would take place through Wagha border and the Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) cell would clear the consignments, said sources. The process would start from 22nd of February and continue until 22nd of March.

The sources said the motorway authorities did not allow carrying more than 40 metric tonnes per truck, therefore, the whole process would continue for a period of one month. Both the trucks and their drivers would belong to Afghanistan, they added.

They said Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has written a letter to the Collectorate, asking it to facilitate the transportation of Indian wheat to Afghanistan.

According to the letter, scanning of empty trucks from Afghanistan would take place at the Wagha border before their entry to India for Attari. Also, it added, the Customs staff would again scan the loaded trucks returning from India for Afghanistan.

The Board has further directed to escort the trucks before their entry to Afghanistan through Torkham border. Accordingly, the Collectorate would be escorting trucks soon after they enter the precincts of the province of Punjab from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It may be noted that Pakistan has also committed a similar human assistance to Afghanistan and partial consignments out of the committed 50,000 tonnes wheat have already reached Afghanistan.

It is also worth noting that Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had announced a day earlier that Afghan trucks carrying wheat from India through Pakistan to the war-torn country would be allowed to pass toll-free.

Accordingly, the Board completed arrangements to facilitate the supply of wheat by India to Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds and assigned the customs department to ensure hassle-free formalities. Under the arrangement, 60 trucks would reach Wagha border from Afghanistan to further travel to Attari and collect the first consignment of wheat from Indian authorities on 22nd of February.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022