Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has demanded of the Government to grant a bailout package for the cotton growers who had incurred a loss of more than Rs 225 billion due to the cartel of textile millers and said that Government should issue order to Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to procure at least 0.5 million bales from the unsold stock of ginners Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP).
Chairman of PCGA Amanullah Qureshi said, while addressing a press conference along with Haji Muhammad Akram, Haji Mukhtar Ahmed Baloch here on Saturday that some elements are exploiting the farmers taking advantage of free-trade mechanism. In effect, they were fleecing the farmers in the guise of international norms of trades.
He said that Government machinery did not act upon the advice of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani regarding the purchase of cotton through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and employed delaying tactics because bureaucracy and as well as textile ministry were playing the game for the APTMA. He suggested that Prime minister should ensure the procurement of at least 0.5 million bales of cotton to stabilise the local market.
He asked why the TCP was reluctant to purchase the cotton when it had procured 3.5 lakh tonnes of sugar from the sugar mills. Perhaps sugar mills were owned by the some influential people and parliamentarians. He said that Prime Minister had reiterated his stance in Multan on the procurement of cotton through TCP and said that he had issued clear-cut orders for buying the one million bales from the ginners. Amanullah Qureshi said that cotton production of 17.5 million was expected in next season. If government neglected this sector, then it would not be possible to achieve the targets of production and farmers would be shifted to other cash producers.
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