KARACHI, Nov 28: The Sindh government has decided to step up revenue collection from cotton fee, which, it said, was not compatible with growth in cotton production.

According to statistics, the department’s collections between July and October from cotton fee increased by only 14 per cent to Rs43.7 million from Rs42 million earlier as against 35 per cent growth reported in cotton production this season. The director-general of excise and taxation, Asif Marghoub Siddiqui, directed the officials in cotton growing districts Hydrabad, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas, to monitor phutti arrival in various ginneries and charge the tax accordingly, which is Rs10 per cotton bale.

He said that revenue figures over the years have revealed that tax had not been collected to its full potential and was treated as a formality. The directors have also been asked to maintain a close liaison with the agriculture department and tally their production figures with the data obtained by the department. The federal ministry of agriculture had sometime back directed the excise departments of all the provinces to ensure collection of cotton fee on actual cotton production as the fee is utilised in meeting expenses of cotton research institute.

The Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, Punjab zone, however, resisted payment of cotton fee, which, they said, was an extra burden on ginning factories already suffering from an all-round hike in input prices.

It said that no meaningful research was being carried out by the institute and hence the cotton fee should be abolished.

However, according to the excise department sources, there was no such resistance in payment of fee in Sindh.

The department collected Rs110 million in cotton fee during 2007-08, while the target for the current year is Rs150 million.

Former vice chairman of Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, Sindh Zone, Mahfooz Bajwa, told Dawn that the cotton fee was a burden on the industry and it should be charged from factories selected by the government for producing contamination free cotton. These units are given Rs50 subsidy per maund.