PCGA achieves the objective of "GST free Khal" and defeats sugar mafia

Multan: Chairman Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) Mian Muhammad Javed Sohail Rahmani said that Ginners did a herculean task to get rid of sales tax on oilcake(Khal) and ultimately, they achieved their objective and defeated the anti-Cotton mafia. Addressing a hurriedly called Press Conference along with Nawab Shehzad Ali Khan, Haji Muhammad Akram, Amanullah Qureshi,Haji Hafeez Anwar, Hafiz Abdul Latif (Vice Chairman, Waheed Arshad, Khawaja Muhammad Iqbal, Dr.Jassu Mal, Sham Lal, Haresh Kumar(Senior Vice-Chairman), Sheikh Muhammad Asim Saeed, Mahesh Kumar, and, Sarfraz Nazim Awan, Rao Sasdaruddin, Ch.Khalid Bashir,Ch.Iftikhar Ali Javed, Shah Zeb, Muhammad Suhaib Ali Rehman,Gopal Das and Secretary-General Asif Khalil,The PCGA Chairman said that this is the first solid step towards boosting up the cotton production and making Pakistan self-sufficient in cotton. He said that ginners are facing liquidity crunch because a huge amount of Rs.20 billion is stuck up with the textile millers who are reluctant to pay this amount for a long time. Now the Government should take up this issue with APTMA to ensure the recovery of outstanding amount. Chairman PCGA reiterated his demand to ensure the supply of certified, well germinated and heat plus disease-resistant seed besides waiver of mark-up and deferring the debts for a year. The irony of that bureaucracy was not ready to declare "Oilcake" an animal feed PCGA Chairman said that oil cake(Khal) was taxed considering its a "Cake" for the last five years and every chairman struggled to get abolished this tax during his tenure but failed to achieve their objective due to powerful sugar mafia. Rehmani claimed that PCGA was the only association which managed to achieve its goal in spite of this fact that it was not part of the bhudget 2020-21. They appreciated the role of Federal Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema Federal Minister Housing ,Syed Fakhar imam,. Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi Syed Naveed Qamar, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah Asad Qaiser(Speaker National Assembly) Sadiq Khan Sanjrani(Chairman Senate)Farooq H Naik, Khawaja Shiraz, Rana Qasim Noon, Sardar Muhammad Khan Leghari, Iftikhar Nazir, Rai Murtza Iqbal,Ch.Muhammad Ashrsaf,Sheikh Fayyaz uddin ,Malik Muhammad Amer Dogar Chieh Whip, J.Parakash Okrani,Kheldas, Senator Talha Mehmood, Mohsin Aziz Imam din Shauqeen,  and Nasim Usman who joined hands with PCGA leadership to make sure this relief.He further said that" We are grateful to  MNAs, Senators of South Punjab and Sindh who helped us. It is a great achievement not ly for ginners and oil millers but a victory of cotton producers(farmers) which has benefited the farmers the most. Today, cotton has won and the sugar mafia has lost. Former Chairman Shehzad Ali Khan said that under the conspiracy, sugar mills have been set up in the cotton belt which has caused irreparable damage to cotton and benefited a few families in the sugar industry. Today, the production of cotton has come down from 14.8 million bales to 7 million bales, which is a serious situation. The owners of textile mills have suppressed the arrears of ginning of Rs. 20 billion which should be paid immediately so that the farmers can be paid. Sheikh Muhammad Asim Saeed, former vice chairman of PCGA, said that they have worked on a war footing to abolish sales tax imposed on oil cake and now we’re trying to resolve other issues. He said that all sectors have been affected due to Corona epidemic but if attention is paid to cotton, it can help in strengthening the national economy. Former Chairman Amanullah Qureshi said that after the abolition of 5% sales tax on cotton, now the most important issue is the availability of quality cotton seeds. The government should fulfill this responsibility and bring quality cotton seeds in the market so that cotton production can be increased. The government should immediately declare an emergency and produce cotton seeds according to the needs of each region. Sarfraz Nazim said that the mark up rate and insurance rate of ginning industry are much higher than that of textile industry which is putting pressure on ginners. The government should also pay attention to this and provide relief to the generals.