As many as 272 trucks loaded with onions from Afghanistan were awaiting clearance at the Torkham border for entering into Pakistan on Saturday, a local media outlet reported on the same day.
According to the details, a few trucks reached the outskirts of Peshawar after travelling a distance of 54km from the Torkham border; however, 272 trucks full of onions were stuck over a distance of four kilometres from the Torkham border gate to Michani Customs Post which was recently made into clearance post to facilitate the clearance of transit goods.
The average weight of onions per truck is 35 tonnes, suggesting that some 9,520 tonnes of onions are loaded on these vehicles.
When asked, Customs officials seemed clueless about the hiccup in movement.
“We don’t know the reasons for the long queue,” an official told Dawn. “Majority trucks are loaded with onions while some are carrying tomatoes; there are also trucks with onions bound for transit to India via the Wagah border.”
“The delay may also be because of non-availability of the required amount,” the official added.
According to Customs, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has made a payment system under which agents or importers are required to have a sufficient amount in their accounts for duty payments.
At the same time, the Customs department has not removed the provision of additional sales tax of three per cent which was waived for importers despite the Peshawar High Court’s order (PHC).
The importers will have to apply individually and the Customs official will process their cases manually for tax exemption, causing undue delay in clearance.
The government charges 17pc sales tax and 2pc income tax on import of onion, while there is 2pc income tax on the import of tomatoes.
The only justification that came from the Customs was that Afghan government allowed export of onion cargo trucks in great number on Saturday which lead to congestion on the Pakistani side.
It is pertinent to mention here that the shortage of vegetable in the wholesale market has pushed up the price of onion from Rs50 to as high as Rs100 per kg in some cities.
While digitization is impacting all spheres of working in a positive way, in Pakistan govt organizations especially FBR/Customs, are reluctant to digitize their work flows and payment/collection mechanism for fear of losing out on corruption money. While the govt has an uphill task to root out corruption from the system, technology has provided a great opportunity to at-least curb a large part of this corruption by automating the payment and collection procedures, including payment of taxes, filing of returns, etc. The gvt should set up a task force to review all manual processes which can be replaced by digitization in each organization and implement these immediately.