HYDERABAD, Oct 7: The Sindh government has constituted district committees to monitor the implementation of the Cotton Control Ordinance in the cotton growing areas of Sindh with the objective of ensuring the production of contamination-free cotton.

According to a notification issued by the Sindh agriculture department, each district committee would be headed by the district coordination officer (DCO), while the executive district officer, agriculture, district officer agriculture, extension, five ginners and five growers would be its members.

The committees will ensure improvement of the ginning factories, as per the ordinance, motivate and educate the growers and the middlemen to pick, transport and sell cotton, as per the prescribed methods.

It will discuss issues regarding the contamination-free cotton at the district level and will suggest measures to be taken at the higher level.

The committees will meet every fortnight.

Though the provisions of the ordinance are applicable to the whole of Sindh, two districts, namely, Sanghar and Ghotki, have been selected as the contamination-free cotton districts, where a special premium will also be given for the clean cotton at the rate of Rs150 per bale, having 1.5 grammes of contamination, Rs75, with 2.5 grammes contamination and Rs50 will be paid for the cotton containing 3.0 grammes of contamination.

The cotton is contaminated by the pieces of hessian, twine, polythene, human and animal hair, feathers, wrappers etc, as a result of which the Pakistani cotton, and the products made of it, fetch low prices in the international markets.