MULTAN City News

Call for imposing ban on cotton import from India

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association Saturday stressed the need to impose a complete ban on the import of cotton and its thread from India till the end of cotton season and disposal of one million bales lying in ginneries as unsold stock.

Talking to reporters, PCGA chairman Shahzad Ali Khan said the textile sector was purchasing local cotton on throwaway rates and on the other hand, it was importing cotton/yarn from India on higher rates which is a great injustice to the farmers who had incurred a loss of more than Rs 200 billion. The PCGA chairman said farmers and ginners are facing severe economic problems due to the 2015-16 cotton crisis. He urged the government to announce a bailout package for ginning industry, saying that conspiracies were underway to harm Pakistani agriculture. Shahzad urged to government to launch a vigorous drive with motto “Sow the cotton; Save the Economy” and take urgent steps to achieve 20 million bales target. He asked the Chief Ministers of Sindh and Punjab to take personal interest to achieve targets. The PCGA chairman urged the power distribution companies to correct bills of the month of January in accordance with the Prime Minister’s announcement.

Shahzad demanded the government to involve the PCGA and other stakeholders to formulate National Cotton Policy which should cover all aspects of cotton trade, including fixation of support price, target of production and grant of permission for the import of cotton.