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Centre to allow onion imports from Myanmar under OGL

The Centre today allowed import of onions from Myanmar as a duty free vegetable covered under Open General Licence, official sources said.

Although onion figures in the list of 22 items meant for exchange between India and Myanmar as agreed in a bilateral agreement between them on April 4, 1995, customs authority posted at "free trade zone" Moreh on the Indo-Myanmar border used to charge customs duty at par with other import items.

Following scarcity of vegetable in local market in view of discontinuance of supply from domestic sources, traders in Manipur continued to feed the market with onions through clandestine import of the vegetable.

Onion is still sold in Imphal market at around Rs 25 as against the reported price of Rs 50 a kg in other parts of the country.

Market sources in Imphal claimed that the onion supply from Myanmar would suffice to meet the market demand of around 500 quintals daily for the entire north-east, including Assam, which is the highest consumer of the vegetable in the region.

Moreh Chamber of Commerce president Tarachand Jain said that the cumbersome procedure of clearance by customs and state government authority as well as the harassment meted out to transporters on the so-called check gate should be done away with immediate effect to facilitate smooth transportation of the scarce vegetable.

UNI

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