HYDERABAD, June 27: The director-general of Agriculture Research and Extension, Sindh, Mohammad Akram Malik, has advised the cotton ginners to use cotton-made sacks for transportation and packing of cotton to ensure contamination-free cotton.
He said this while presiding over a meeting regarding ginning charges here on Thursday.
He said that under the new World Trade Organization (WTO) only quality goods can compete in international markets.
With implementation of agreements under the WTO in 2005, there will be no quotas and if we are not prepared to produce quality cotton products, our cotton economy will crash, he said.
He said that jute sacks used in cotton packing and transportation are the main contaminants and out of 18 grams contaminants in a bale, 12 grams are of jute matter.
He said the government has amended the Cotton Control Act making use of cotton sacks compulsory, and added that the ginners should come forward and launch a contamination-free cotton campaign on a grand scale.
He advised the ginners, particularly those of Sanghar and Ghotki districts, which had been declared pilot districts, to improve their ginning factories as per the prescribed format given in the amended Cotton Control Act and suggested by the Small and Medium Enterprise Authority (SMEDA).
The joint director, Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute, Liaquat Agha, said that according to a two-year old report of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), the country was losing 1,422 million dollars every year due to low quality cotton and its made-ups on account of contamination.
The representatives of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh and Mehboob Ahmed, said that there should be uniform basis for calculation of ginning charges, because on the basis of ginning charges, lint parity prices are fixed.
In Punjab, they said, cotton-ginning charges are fixed at Rs171 per bale, which was adopted by the Sindh government last year.
The ginners said that the ginning outturn (GOT) in Sindh was less which increased the ginning losses and the ginning charges should also be higher.
After detailed discussions and opinions by growers, ginners and experts, it was decided that every stakeholder would prepare a pragmatic ginning charge formula on the pattern of Punjab and submit it on July 10 at a meeting in which the charges would be finalized.
Among those who attended the meeting were Syed Nadeem Shah and Dr Shahnawaz Shah as growers’ representatives, Ayaz Ali Memon, Cotton Coordinator, and several representatives of ginning factories of lower and upper Sindh.
LUMHS DENIES: Responding to an item published in Dawn, a spokesman for the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, has said that apparently some scuffle took place between the project director of the university and a student organization, led by Jamil Ujjan.
In a statement issued here on Friday, he said that Jamil Ujjan tried to extort money and the group has been threatening to stop essential development maintenance and repair work in hostels.
He said an FIR has been lodged by the project director in this regard.
The vice chancellor, the spokesman said, has constituted an inquiry committee to investigate into the complaints of the group.
He said the syndicate committee will meet with the chief engineer or his nominee to constitute a building inspection committee to examine the quality of work at the university.
SU: The director of admissions, University of Sindh, on Friday announced the schedule for admissions in the Faculty of Education in different degree courses of morning and evening programmes for the academic year 2003-2004.
Admission forms for B.Ed and M.Ed morning programme, B.Ed and M.Ed evening programme and MA (previous) for evening and morning programme can be obtained from the branches of the HBL, Old Campus, Hyderabad and Jamshoro, on prescribed form fee or downloaded from the Sindh University website www.education.usindh.edu.pk.
Admission forms can be submitted in the office of the dean, Faculty of Education, Elsa Kazi Campus, Hyderabad, and the receipt may be obtained on the photocopy of admission forms upto Aug 9.
APPOINTED: The vice chancellor, University of Sindh, has appointed Dr Mohammad Siddiqui Kalhoro as the new provost of the university boys hostels with immediate effect.
Dr Kalhoro has taken over the charge of new assignments.