FAISALABAD: The All Pakistan Textile Sizing Association on Thursday urged the government to reconsider 17 per cent sales tax imposed on starch, a raw material for this segment, or else the sector would collapse.

Addressing a press conference, the association’s chairman Shakeel Ansari said sizing sector was the backbone of the textile industry.

The powerloom and sizing sectors are indispensable to each other, however, the government has made it difficult for the latter to work smoothly, Mr Ansari said.

“Prices of cloth have increased manifold and buyers are purchasing the commodity from India and Bangladesh,” he said.

He said the environment department had sealed many sizing units without any justification and registered cases against the owners.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2019