Chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA), Aman-ullah Qureshi, while talking to newsmen here on Thursday said, "they were forced to stop the procurement of "Phutti" from December 10(Saturday) because government did nothing for the disposal of stock piled up in ginneries that reached two million bales.
He said that all member ginners will stop the procurement of "Phutti" from the growers from Saturday as the government is reluctant to issue instructions to Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to purchase at least one million bales on international rates. He further said an attractive bailout package was not announced for the ginning industry. This harsh step is being taken to save the ginners from being bankrupted, said Aman-ullah Qureshi.
He said that PCGA had apprised the President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, federal and provincial ministers of its grievances and told them that millions of cotton growers are incurring huge financial loss due to monopoly of textile sector and they are being fleeced by the only buyer (APTMA), which had developed a cartel to keep the cotton prices at the lowest ebb.
He said that this situation would ruin the growers as well as ginners if government did not ask the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to procure at least one million bales of cotton. Aman-ullah said that such elements who were fleecing were enemies of the growers.
He said that government had declared the flood-hit areas as calamity affected areas and remitted the agricultural loans but no policy was evolved yet for the rehabilitation of ginning factory of flood-hit areas and farmers of cotton zone. He said that government should announce to waive the mark-up on the debt of ginners and all the loans be rescheduled till December 31,2011. He suggested that minimum support price of cotton be fixed at Rs 6000/maund and appealed to the growers not to lend ear to the rumour mongers who were spreading baseless rumours that cotton sector was sinking.
He vehemently condemned such elements particularly brokers and beoparis who were playing a key role in pushing the cotton sector towards the darkness. He warned the government that farmers would play a decisive role in coming election if government did not redress their grievances and left them at the mercy of Beoparis and textile millers.
They said that cotton growers and ginners of Sindh were being fleeced by textile sector because their produce was being purchased on throwaway rates. Aman-ullah Qureshi said that banks had stopped the debt-limits of ginners and now they are unable to purchase the raw cotton (Phutti) from the growers on cash.
He said that government should make arrangements for the purchase of low-quality and grade-III cotton immediately otherwise ginners would be forced to stop the purchase of "Phutti" He also suggested that government should allow export of cotton without any hindrance and there should be no condition of depositing the surety amount and adopting the complicated procedure.
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