Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday requested the Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to increase the number of products traded with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border.
“Currently only 137 products are traded through Attari-Wagah border. There is a need to increase this number. Through Karachi-Mumbai route, thousands of products are traded (between India and Pakistan),” said Badal.He asked the Minister to improve infrastructure at Integrated Check Post by installing scanners and allowing trade through containers.
Pakistan had notified a negative list in 2012 whereby it allowed India to export all products to Pakistan, barring 1,209 items. However, Pakistan allowed import of only 137 items through the Attari-Wagah land route which was described as discrimination against Punjab by traders.local traders in Punjab have raised the matter both at the central as well as the state government levels. According to estimates, the total volume of trade between India and Pakistan via Attari-Wagah land route is about Rs 2,500 crore.
Chief Minister also asked the Minister to extend Amritsar-Kolkata corridor till Amritsar border. Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor is patterned on Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. It will be spread across 20 cities in seven states–Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.