Tobacco growers slam multinational companies

MARDAN: Anjuman-e-Tahaffuz-e-Haqooq-e-Keshtkaran on Tuesday praised the federal government for accepting the tobacco growers’ demand by imposing tax on cigarette packs instead of tobacco leaves.

In a statement, Naimat Shah Roghani, president of the growers body, alleged that the multinational companies have started a conspiracy to force the government to impose this tax on tobacco growers. He alleged that the multinational companies have started issuing statements that this tax should be removed from the cigarette box and imposed on tobacco leaves of the tobacco crops.

The tobacco growers body chief accused the multinational companies of always exploiting tobacco farmers.He said the monopoly of the multinational companies have decreased after the entry of local and national companies into the market.Roghani requested the tobacco growers not to sell tobacco crop to multinational companies and prefer domestic and local companies.