Chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) Chaudhry Muhammad Akram has announced to observe country-wide strike of ginners if support price of cotton, and its purchase through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) was not announced within next 72 hours.

Talking to newsmen here on Tuesday night He said that they had called off their strike in October on the assurance of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani that TCP would purchase the cotton on support price but this commitment could not be materialised while cartel of Textile Mills was reluctant to purchase the cotton on reasonable rates.

Chairman said that Central executive Committee of PCGA would meet on November 13 to set the future strategy and giving the final call for strike. Ex-Chairman of PCGA, Suhail Mehmood Haral, Vice Chairman of PCGA Aman-ullah Qureshi convenor of managing committee Malik Talat Suhail, and Senior members Shehzad Ali Khan and Major Akhtar Abbas (Retd) held a joint press conference here on Tuesday.

They said that they were forced to go on strike for indefinite period because Government had deviated from its commitment. It neither fixed the support price of ginned cotton nor made arrangements for the purchase of stuck-up stock of 3.5 million bales lying in the ginneries.

They said that ginners had stopped the procurement of raw cotton "Phutti" from the farmers from October 25 till the acceptance of their demands but they called off their strike and started purchasing of "Phutti" from October 31.

He said that billions of rupees had been stuck due to non-disposal of cotton stock. They appealed to the President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani to intervene into the situation to save the farmers, ginners and asked the TCP to immediately make arrangements for the purchase of their unsold stock otherwise cotton economy would sink. On the other hand, banks and other financial institutions had reduced the debt limits of ginners since the spot rates had fallen. They also protested on the increase of mark-up rate by the banks and four to 5 percent spread.

They held the government and an organised mafia responsible for the arising situation which had established its monopoly on the cotton trade. They said that cotton rates in international market are 60 to 65 cent per LB but local textile millers are purchasing at 40 to 45 cent per LB. They made it clear that ginners cannot afford to sell their cotton at Rs 2800 to 2900 per maund after purchasing the "Phutti" at Rs 1600 to 1800 per maund. They threatened to give a strike call for indefinite period if Government did not redress their grievances.

Source: Business Recorder