LAHORE, March 31: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association has urged Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to consult the industry on policies related to textiles to save it from destruction.

Welcoming the prime minister’s poverty reduction programme in a statement issued here on Monday, Aptma Punjab Zone Chairman Akbar Sheikh said that sustained poverty eradication was not possible without the growth of commodity producing sector, including industry and agriculture. The previous government failed to eradicate poverty because it concentrated on the growth of the services sector whose benefits did not get down to the common man, he added

He said that the textile sector could play a significant role in the poverty eradication programme because it was the not only the largest industrial sector but also had the capacity to double the exports during the new government’s tenure if it made industry-friendly policies in consultation with the industrialists.

Commenting on the 30 per cent increase in minimum wage rate, Akbar Sheikh said that only 5 per cent of the workforce would benefit from it because the entire agriculture sector was out of the ambit of the labour laws.

It would affect mainly the large-scale manufacturing and exporting sectors which were already under pressure because of a 20 per cent increase in power tariff with effect from March 1 and a 20 per cent increase in gas tariff in the pipeline.