LAHORE: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has demanded that Ministry of Railways should start a ‘Kissan Express’ for the citrus fruit (kinnow) with refrigerated bogies from Bhalwal to Karachi and Quetta on competitive rates.
This demand was made by FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Secretary General (Federal) and former Chairman Standing Committee on Agriculture of the apex trade body, Ch Ahmad Jawad while talking to media persons here on Thursday.
Jawad said that currently the majority of private containers of the shipping companies have not given adequate refrigerated facilities to all the way to Karachi and Quetta just to save fuel and as a result fresh fruit of kinnow may not maintain quality.
He also demanded that the Ministry of Commerce should start negotiation with European Union to allow Pakistani kinnows, adding that the idea of ‘Kissan express’ would be a great addition in Pakistan Railways cargo system and as a result PR could also receive good revenue in the season of kinnow, because the district of Sargodha contributes around $3 billion to national exchequer every year. This will be a boon for growers of Punjab as due to the highly perishable nature of the fruit only 35-40 percent of the harvest reaches consumers, he said.
