KARACHI, Jan 24: Towel manufacturers have criticized the government for withdrawing duty concession on rapier looms and other allied machinery used to manufacture high quality towels to meet western markets standards.

Vice-chairman, Towel Manufacturers’ Association of Pakistan (TMAP), S M A Rizvi, in a statement issued on Thursday, said the government’s decision to withdraw duty concessions had created problems for towel exporters.

According to reports, he said, one loom manufacturer prevailed upon the government that he had developed a rapier loom which excels the imported machinery.

But the fact is that towel manufacturers are not aware even about the basic facts of looms particularly about their performance, quality and price, he added.

Rizvi said it was necessary that loom should have been demonstrated before the towel industry and their acceptance should have been obtained and only then the CBR should have removed the duty relief as per customs general order No.7/98 through a CGO 1/2002.

Despite all the bad news regarding quotas coming from US, the towel industry, he said, was being modernized on a large-scale and a number of orders for rapier looms were in the pipeline.

On the other hand, he said, the local loom will require a lot of changes and improvement before it could replace the imported loom.

Rizvi asked the government to disclose the name of the authority that had approved the quality, performance and acceptance of the loom.

He further said the government had repeatedly assured that no major changes would be made in the policy without consultation with the trade.

Rizvi requested the customs to maintain status-quo as far as SRO on rapier looms is concerned and should seek towel manufacturers’ view before withdrawing the duty concession on the machinery.