Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association Chairman Muhammad Akram has announced to continue their strike till acceptance of their "genuine demands". Addressing a press conference along with circle vice chairmen on Friday he said that a delegation of PCGA would call on Textile Secretary on August 9 in Islamabad. After that, fresh strategy would be announced.
He said that the delegation would also meet FBR Chairman of on August 12 to settle the dispute of refundable taxes. He said that Punjab Government had arranged a meeting with provincial Secretaries Excise & Taxation, Agriculture and Secretary Textile but Secretary Textile did not join the meeting and this arrangement proved a futile exercise.
He further said that a two-member delegation of PCGA, comprising Saeed Ahmed and Mehmood Ahmed, apprised the FPCCI of their grievances. Upon this, the Advisor to Prime Minister Manzoor Wattoo asked them to call off the strike and he would resolve their problems. But ginners are not in a position to run their factories in the absence of working licence.
He called upon the politicians like Javed Hashmi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Zulfikar Ali Khosa, Tehmina Daultana and heads of coalition partners to come forward to help the ginners and cotton growers. They also asked Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to intervene in the situation. The PCGA chairman said that ginners and growers would jointly organise demonstrations at district headquarters to draw attention of the rulers towards their problems.
Banners were being displayed at all big cities containing their demands.. He said that Textile Commissioner and Provincial Secretary Agriculture Javed Iqbal had invited a delegation of PCGA for dialogue. He was ready to extend the working licence for next two months but he was not authorised to waive the standardisation fee @ Rs 5 per bale.
Thus these dialogues could not prove fruitful. The PCGA chairman said,"Our strike would continue for indefinite period to press the authorities for changing their behaviour and acceptance of their demands".
He said: "Our business remained close as a protest against the levy of extra taxes and depriving of all facilities as promised in an agreement between the Government and PCGA in 1991-92." He said that cotton production was declining season by season and this year cotton worth one billion dollars would have to be imported from different countries to run the textile industry.
He said: "We did not make the strike decision in a haphazard way and we were forced to take this harsh decision because Agriculture Department refused to issue working licence to ginneries without clearance of disputed dues.
It was decided at a general body meeting on July 28 to observe complete strike from August 1 as the government departments and bureaucracy had treated them step-motherly and put hurdle in their way and did not resolve their problems. PCGA was unanimous on the issues of non-payment of standardisation fee @ Rs 5 per bale, Workers Welfare Fund, and withholding tax.
Akram said that FBR should not impose refundable tax on the ginners and similar facilities be given to them as are permissible for textile mills. He said that the government should end the 'Clean Cotton' programme which is a discriminatory way to oblige a particular class of ginners and depriving 1100 ginners of this facility-simplification of procedure of issuance of working licence and removing hurdles in this way, declaring the cotton ginning industry as zero-rated industry, enrolment of ginners in Federal Board of Revenue and e-filing of returns of sales tax, withdrawal of increase in sales tax, resolving the issue of Workers Welfare Fund, ensuring the uninterrupted power supply for 18 hours.
He said that elections of PCGA would be held in March 2009 but it would be subject to the approval of Director General Trade Organisation. He said that Government should not issue working licence to non-members of PCGA and membership of PCGA should be mandatory for the issuance of licences.