Body formed to plan strategy for contamination free cotton

ISLAMABAD: The government has constituted a special committee to prepare a strategy to obtain contamination-free cotton from growers and ginning industries as part of the clean cotton programme.

The formation of the committee came at a meeting presided over by the federal minister for commerce, Humayun Akhtar Khan, as the minister for textile industries, Mushtaq Ali Cheema, was touring China to discuss matters relating to the textile sector, said an official statement. The committee will be headed by Syed Masood ALam Rizvi, the secretary of the ministry of textile industry.

The committee will also comprise secretary food and agriculture, the joint secretary commerce, the secretaries agriculture of Punjab and Sindh, representatives of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), ginners associations, growers, the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute and some other stakeholders.

The commerce minister said that the issue of contamination was the most important issue and the committee should propose what measures could be taken to obtain contamination-free cotton.

He said that the government was considering to launch a scheme of payment of premium to growers and ginners on producing contamination-free and clean cotton.

Masood Alam Rizvi said that the ministry of textile industry was working to establish five fiber-testing laboratories in various cotton growing areas of Punjab and Sindh for promoting the clean cotton production programme. He said all ginning industries would be up-graded, and in this connection the government would provide all possible assistance to the owners of these ginneries. staff report

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