Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has summoned the meeting of central executive committee (CEC) on March 10 to discuss the cotton crisis, taxation matters, establishment of Cotton Ginning Research Institute, cotton export wing in Ministry of Textile or Ministry of Commerce, and rejection of new varieties of the cotton evolved and approved by Punjab seed council.
Briefing the journalists here today, PCGA chairman Amanullah Qureshi said that cotton crisis had aggravated in the country due to the wrong policies of ministry of textile and obstacles in the procurement of cotton through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) as per instruction of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.
He said that some elements, under the pressure of Aptma, had created problems for the ginners as well as farmers. He said that farmers had suffered a huge loss of billions of rupees at the hands of textile millers who had fleeced the growers through cartel.
Qureshi said that more than one million bales were lying unsold in the ginneries while 0.5 million bales were lying in the field. He said that the PCGA had planned to establish its cotton-export wing to break the monopoly of the Aptma and other stake holders and this proposal would be discussed in the forthcoming meeting to be held on March 10.
He said that the government should introduce a simple, easy and unambiguous cotton policy to facilitate the growers and ginners. He said that all hurdles in the direct export of cotton should be removed and maximum facilities be provided to the exporters and conditions of pre-registration and other terms be waived. Qureshi said that the government should grant permission to the PCGA to use the warehouses of TCP in Karachi for cotton export. PCGA, according to him, agreed to settle the rent and other preconditions with the TCP. He said that Pakistan could earn one billion US dollar by exporting cotton.
Comments
Comments are closed.