MULTAN, Sept 6th: Senior Vice President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Khawaja Badar Munir has said that In order to ensure that the production of clean and contamination-free cotton becomes a source of economic growth and well-being . Clean Cotton project (season 2019-20)must be expanded all cotton growing districts and it should be applied on all concerned industries uniformally. He said that some sitting office bearers of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association have got registered Some ginning factories to purchase clean "phutti" from the growers/suppliers to get an extra Rs.200 per 40 kg from Government . A few selected ginners will be obliged under this "Clean Cotton Project" (CCP) other genuine ginners who were producing contamination free cotton are still deprived of this facility.Under prevailing situation,the premium money is going to the pocket of some selectees. He further said that This project should not be confined to seven districts of Multan, Khanewal, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Vehari and Bahawalnagar and it must be expanded to all cotton growing districts of Punjab as well as Sindh province.He said in spite of producing best cotton in the world, Pakistan suffered a loss of $2 to 4 billion annually owing to contamination of its produce. He said that earlier a pilot project was initiated in Rahim Yar Khan was not successful because premium amount went to the pocket of selected ones and the campaign for producing clean cotton could not achieve the encouraging results thus it was not expanded to all districts of Punjab. Khawaja Badar Munir said that Government should take notice of discriminatory distribution of this incentive.He also suggested that Government should monitor the payment of premium to growers on contamination free cotton through Agriculture department. He said for the purpose of transportation of clean cotton from one place to another, the agriculture department had designed and developed special transport covered with steel so that jute or synthetic bags were not used in shifting process, which was also one of the causes of cotton contamination. The cost of these trolleys was to be borne by the Government or "Beoparis" registered under the programme.
