PESHAWAR: The custom clearing agents on the Pak-Afghan border of Torkham have asked the government for providing them with the internet facility and establish more banks in the area.
Haji Hayatullah Shinwari, President of Custom Clearance Union, says about 124 clearance agencies are working in Landikotal tehsil of Khyber Agency and Torkham border. These agencies keep the record of the transport carrying trade goods to Afghanistan and a sum of approximately two million rupees is collected from them and transferred it to government account on daily basis.
He said it is too hard for them to share the record of trade vehicles without internet facility and that they are also confronting a difficulty in the transfer of money to their account as there is only one bank, which is not enough in the area.
“There is only one branch of the National Bank of Pakistan in the area, which also lacks staff. Two to three employees are there, who cannot suffice our needs. So we demand that the region be provided with two or three banks. We haven’t even seen the telephone since seven or eight years, they lamented. Previously, our work progress was 100%, which has reduced to merely 45% now.”
It is to mention here that although Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited officials had assured us of setting up an internet facility in the border area after the completion of construction work at the Pak-Afghan Highway yet the assurance was not honoured so far. They humbly requested the government to install the internet in the area as soon as possible.
