Perishable goods: Fruit and vegetable traders demand cold storage facility in NWA

Say they incurred losses worth millions of rupees due to recent eight-day curfew.

MIRANSHAH:

Fruit and vegetable traders’ unions on Sunday said produce worth millions of rupees perished due to the eight-day curfew in North Waziristan, adding the situation could have been prevented if they had a cold storage facility in the area.

Fruit and vegetable traders’ union president Malik Sikandar told journalists a large amount of produce stored in the market in Miranshah rotted, affecting import and export with Afghanistan.

Sikandar said the government has approved the establishment of a cold storage for the area, but work on it has been delayed. He demanded the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governor and officials of the FATA Secretariat remove hurdles and establish the facility as soon as possible in order to protect the investment of traders.

The union’s general secretary, Ihsanullah, said Miranshah was the route for transporting onions, tomatoes and fruits to all parts of the country from Afghanistan, but unfavourable conditions prevented the produce from reaching its destinations on time.

He said they need a storage facility in case of unexpected delays in transportation, adding that even though its plan has been circulating in government offices nothing has been done so far.

Ihsanullah also urged the K-P governor to take notice of the issue as it would not only benefit traders in K-P and Fata, but all over the country.

A large number of traders were present at the news conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2014.