KHYBER: A mechanical failure in weighing machine on the Afghan side of Torkham border left hundreds of loaded trucks stranded on the Pakistan side here on Friday.
The carriers said they had properly cleared all their items through the customs departments, but because of the weighing machine of the Afghan customs, they could not cross the border.
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They said most of the vehicles, which were vulnerable to rotting, were filled with perishable edible objects. They asked the Afghan Customs and Border Authority to patch the system immediately.
Transporters also blame power outages, poor internet for slow clearance of goods
Transporters have long been talking about barriers to the smooth flow of bilateral trade through the Torkham border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. They claimed that the Pakistani authorities had refused to uphold their promise to keep the border open round the clock for the smooth movement on both sides of the border of both loaded and empty vehicles.
They reported that electronic scanning had also hindered the timely clearance of commercial products, and much of the time the system remained out of order.
As they hamper the clearance of export goods, power outages and poor internet speed at the customs offices are often known to be a cause of annoyance.
Under the Web-Based One Custom (WeBOC) scheme, Pakistan has made customs clearance mandatory in order to add clarity to export products clearance. For a long time, transporters and clearing agents have argued that the WeBOC is not a means of openness in the scheme, but a source of annoyance for them.
APPOINTED: On Friday, Deputy Commissioner Khyber, Mehmud Aslam Wazir, issued letters of appointment to the sons of 27 education department employees who had lost their lives during their service.
He gave letters of appointment to the sons of the deceased employees in a ceremony held at the district education office in Jamrud. Twelve primary school teachers, seven junior clerks and 11 laboratory assistants were among the newly selected young men, while another four were appointed to the special quota for people with disabilities.
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The DC later inaugurated a 10-day cleanliness campaign in the municipal complex of Bara, which was initiated with the help of the Sarhad Rural Support Project by the Tehsil municipal authority.
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