Minister directs PTB review its legal framework

Minister directs PTB review its legal framework

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1 (APP): State Minister for Commerce and Textile  Industry Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday directed Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) to review its legal framework and organizational set up to make it more effective according to the needs of all stake holders specially the tobacco growers. This he said during a briefing on the organization, functions and activities of the Board. The briefing was given by Chairman, PTB and was attended by Secretary, Commerce Division and senior officers of the Ministry and the Board.

The Minister for Commerce and Textile Industry directed the Board  to take practical steps in improving the lot of small farmers engaged in tobaccobusiness.
The Minister of State advised PTB to publish all the research material  and guidelines on tobacco farming in Urdu and other regional languages to make it more communicable.
He stressed the need to provide facilitation to the tobacco farmers and share the research findings with them to improve productivity and the economic condition of the small farmers.
The Minister of State directed that the complaints with regard to  grading and pricing of tobacco should be addressed through an  institutional mechanism, rather than discretion and arbitrariness by the Board.
He expressed hope that the new regulatory framework should plug all loopholes that can lead to the exploitation of poor farmers.
The Minister appreciated the contribution of the big tobacco companies who were providing jobs and contributing to the revenues of the country.
Responding to their legitimate concerns, the Minister of State asked  the PTB to develop a foolproof system to check counterfeiting and ensure all legal provisions are invoked to prosecute the defaulters.
He advised Chairman PTB to make the system of tendering cess collection more transparent and competitive and ensure broader representation of stake holders in the process.