The animal quarantine at Wagah (Amritsar) that was announced in 2006 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh remains a wishful thinking for exporters as no initiative has been taken to execute the project.
Sources in Customs said that the government was yet to make permanent arrangement for the quarantine facilities.
An animal quarantine at Wagah is expected to boost the export of livestock to Pakistan where there is a huge demand for livestock.
Experts said the demand was likely to grow manifold and once the quarantine was set up, expectation were that the exports would grow manifold and could even touch over thousands of animals per month.
Apart from making the export of livestock economically viable for the exporters, the move is likely to facilitate exports to Afghanistan.
Sources in Customs said that a quarantine official had been posted but there was no infrastructure.
It is worth noting that way back in April 2006, the Pakistan government allowed six items — onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, meat and livestock (including buffaloes, cows, goats, sheep and camels) — to be imported from India through the Wagah land route and later, cotton was also added.
However, there has been no export to Pakistan in the last couple of months as the dollar has depreciated against the rupee.
At present, in the absence of quarantine facilities at Wagah, exporters have to travel all the way to Delhi with their livestock to get a certificate declaring that the animals to be exported are free from diseases. The entire process takes about 3-4 days and is a costly affair.
He added that the setting up quarantine facilities at Wagah would give a fillip to the livestock trade, as animal can be procured from the local market and can be tested locally, which will lead to drastic cut in input costs.
Further, livestock export has a huge potential and Afghanistan can also be a destination, on of the exporter added.
