Official sources at the Textile Ministry said that the former chairman of the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) had agreed with the government on tax of Rs 5 per bale of cotton, but the present leaders of the association are against it.
The levy, the sources added, was meant to share the expenses of the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute (PCSI) with the government. It is learnt that many ginners had started paying this tax, but the new management of the association is restraining them to pay the levy and challenging the government decision.
When contacted, Secretary Textile Ministry, Syed Masood Alam Rizvi told Business Recorder that the textile ministry is facilitating the textile sector and looking into its problems for improvement of the textile chain. Cotton being the basic raw material should be of good quality, he added.
If the ginners co-operate with the textile ministry and agree to pay the amount of Rs 5 per bale, which is very small, it would contribute a lot to increasing the value of cotton, which would ultimately benefit them too. He maintained that ginners should strengthen the PCSI and the ministry.
APTMA is already paying government Rs 21 per bale on research. It was Rs 11 earlier, he added. Similarly government is spending Rs 50 per bale on clean cotton programme, which directly goes to the farmers, he maintained.
He continued that there are about 10 million bales of cotton produced per annum. The contribution of mere Rs 5 per bale would result in huge amount of Rs 50 million.
PCGA Chairman Sohail Mehmood Harral was also contacted, who said that they would come up with their proposals on the issue after 10th of Muharram. He was of the view that PCSI is a government institute and their salaries should be paid by the government.
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