Foreign apples are being dumped in the Indian Market through Afghanistan
Himachal Pradesh Assembly showed concern about the way foreign Apple is being dumped in the Indian Market through Afganistan and trucks are coming to India via the Bagha border.
The issue of the illegal import of apples into Indian markets was raised in Himachal Assembly on Saturday. Theog MLA Kuldeep Rathore said that Iran’s apples are being brought to the country’s markets via Afghanistan because there is no import duty on Afghan apples. He said that it is being brought from the Bagha border.
Therefore, to avoid import duty, traders are bringing it through Afghanistan. This should be stopped. This has not only created a crisis for the Apple industry of Himachal, Jammu Kashmir, and Uttarakhand, but the Center is also facing loss in terms of revenue.
” Himachal’s apple industry will be ruined if import duty is reduced,” Kuldeep Rathore also urged the opposition i.e. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in the House to raise this issue with the Center and request them to stop the illegal import of apples. Also, demand to keep the import duty on Washington Apple at 70 percent.
In the month of June itself, the Center reduced the import duty on Washington Apple from 70 percent to 50 percent. Kuldeep Rathore said that now there are preparations to extend the Special decrease to 15 percent, It should not happen.
He said that due to this, Himachal’s apple industry worth Rs 5000 crore will be ruined and the apple industry which provides livelihood to thousands of families will be ruined.
Replying to this issue Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi said that before becoming the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had promised to increase the import duty on apples in Hamirpur in 2014. The central government did not fulfill this promise even in nine years. On the contrary, now the import duty has been reduced and the gardeners are worried.
These government figures are the reason for the concern of gardeners. The concerns of Himachali gardeners have started increasing due to the arrival of Iranian apples and the reduction in import duty on Washington apples.
The reason for their concern is the figures of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. According to the ministry, in the year 2017-18, when the import duty on Washington apple was 50 percent, 1,27,908 metric tonnes of apple was imported from Washington to India.
In the year 2018, import duty on Apple was increased to 70 percent. After this, the import of apples from Washington reduced to only 4,486 tonnes in the financial year 2022-23.
That means after increasing the import duty from 50 to 70 percent, the import of apples was reduced by 29 times. When it reduces to 15 percent apple imports would increase manifold.
This year, a large quantity of apples are being imported from Iran. This would affect the apples kept in cold stores in the coming days, Minister added.
