Govt, APTMA strike deal on cotton cess collection

The government and All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) reached an agreement on Thursday on the cotton cess collection, reported 24NewsHD TV channel. 

APTMA, the cotton committee office-bearers and the minister of food security signed the agreement. 

Under the agreement, textile mills will pay over Rs1 billion to the government under the head of cotton cess in four installments.  

The APTMA will provide textile mills’ data to the cotton committee and will resolve its issues with all textile mills.  

Besides that, under the agreement, the APTMA will make sure that the cess is paid on time, and in case of a delay, five per cent fine will be slapped. 

Association Chairman Kamran Arshad said that the government was taking steps for the revival of the cotton crop in the country. “Steps are being taken for the import of cotton seed,” he added. 

Kamran said that it was in everybody’s knowledge that the textile sector was badly hit due to a drop in cotton crop production, forcing the textile mills’ owners to import the commodity worth billions of dollars from abroad.   

“Livelihoods of millions of farmers are dependent on the cotton crop,” he said.

Reporter: Waqas Azeem