Cotton ginners calls off 10 days strike

CHANDIGARH: Even as cotton prices in Punjab remained stable at Rs 2710 to Rs 2745 per maund (one maund=37.324 kg), cotton ginners called off a ten day long strike on Monday.

The ginners got an assurance from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the matter of relaxation of taxes on the ginning industry.

Since January 1 the ginners have been opposing the high tax structure in the state which was leading to migration of industry to other parts of the country. With a waiver of 1.6% market fee on new ginning mills in Rajasthan, ginners from Punjab were setting up new units there and sourcing cotton from the state.

In Punjab ginners were paying 12% tax (including 4% VAT and 2.5% katcha arthiya commission) compared to 7.6% in Rajasthan.

“We have demanded the state government to exempt the ginning mill from payment of market fee (2%), Rural Development Fund (RDF) (2%) and Punjab Infrastructure Development fund (PIDF) (2%). By getting a 6% tax relief the industry would not be pressurized to move to other state,” said Punjab Cotton Factories and Ginners Association, president Bhagwan Bansal. Since 2003, the state government is giving a similar relaxation to new ginning units under the mega project scheme.

He added that the Punjab chief minister has assured the 300 ginning mills to resolve the issue at the earliest. On January 18th the ginners will have another meeting with the Chief Minister and representatives form the Industry and Commerce department and market committee.