LAHORE, Aug 6: After failure of talks with the government, the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has decided to continue its ongoing strike.

The decision came after a round of talks of PCGA representatives with the officials of the Punjab government and the federal cotton commissioner here on Wednesday.

The meeting was held here to discuss the problems of the ginners regarding the different taxes and renewing of their licences. However, the meeting remained inconclusive as the government officials did not accept PCGA representatives’ demands.

Later, addressing a press conference, PCGA Chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Akram said that the Punjab excise and taxation department had not renewed their licences and was asking for tax of Rs5 per bale, which no ginner could afford. Thus the PCGA has decided to continue its strike.

The government was already collecting one per cent per bale tax from the ginners and imposing new taxes on the industry would only make it non-viable. The ginners have also stopped buying cotton, he said and added: “The industry had been processing almost 7,000 bales daily, which has been stopped after 1,200 ginning factories went on strike. The PCGA was not interested in strike but the government machinery had compelled it to take the extreme step.”

He said framers had been facing almost Rs200 to Rs250 million losses daily after the closure of ginning factories and over 150,000 people had been rendered unemployed.

The ginners strike has entered sixth day but the federal government was not taking interest in resolving the crisis. The federal government was solely responsible for the current situation, he claimed.

Answering a question that when their demands are related with the federal government why did they meet with the officials of the Punjab government, he said that his association was informed that the federal cotton commissioner would also attend the meeting and listen to their problems and submit a report to the federal government. That is why the PCGA has attended the meeting. The association was ready to meet every government official in order to resolve the crisis, he added.