British Indians seek PM help to lift ban on mangoes

LONDON: British Indians have urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to personally intervene and help lift the EU ban on the import of Indian mangoes.

British-Indian Labour MP Keith Vaz, along with mango retailers and importers, on Tuesday delivered two boxes of Alphonso mangoes at 10, Downing Street - the official residence of the British PM.

Mango mania had swept Trafalgar Square last year in what was London's first ever Indian mango festival. The Mayor of London had allowed a strong delegation from Maharashtra to celebrate a special "Alphonso Mango Festival" on May 5 and 6.

Vaz said Cameron has been a friend of India and should use his clout in EU to lift the ban.

"I understand that the Indian government has complied with the rules set out by the EU and there is, therefore, no reason for this ban to go ahead. It will cost millions of pounds of lost revenue to the British economy and result in millions of mangoes going to waste in India," Vaz said.

Vaz has written to the European Commission president and also plans to make a representation to Cameron.

India is the world's top mango exporter followed by Mexico. The Alphonso economy is estimated to be worth more than Rs 1,000 crore and exports of mango pulp is pegged at Rs 620 crore.

However EU's 28 member-states endorsed on March 26 emergency measures proposed to ban the import of certain fruits and vegetables from India including the Alphonso.

Besides the Indian mango, the other fruits and vegetables banned include Colocasia (taro, eddo) Momordica sp (bitter gourd), Solanum melongena (eggplant) and Trichosanthes sp (snake gourd).

EU says, "The measures prohibit the import of some fruits and vegetables from India to tackle the significant shortcomings in the phytosanitary certification system of such products exported to the EU. This decision had to be taken due to a high number of such consignments being intercepted at arrival in the EU with quarantine pests, mainly insects, like non-European fruit flies."

According to the EU the pests were found in 207 consignments of fruits and vegetables from India imported into the EU in 2013.

UK's environment minister Lord de Mauley stressed his department is working on lifting the ban as soon as possible.