Whitefly menace: Pb, Haryana ginners seek relief from govts

As cotton production in Punjab and Haryana takes a plunge in the wake of whitefly attack, ginners of the two states seek relief from their governments, to save the ginning industry.
Ginners in Punjab have demanded that the SAD-BJP led state government waives off market fee and rural development fund on cotton and relaxation in payment of power tariff.
In Haryana, ginners have sought removal of disparities in tax structure and fiscal incentives for existing units to boost the seasonal industry.
"We demand that Punjab government waives off market fee and RDF for six months on cotton so that we may purchase crop from Haryana and Rajasthan. Otherwise the whole cotton ginning industry in Punjab will collapse," Punjab Cotton Factories & Ginners' Association, President, Bhagwan Bansal said.

He further said that the industry was also not able to pay monthly minimum charges of power tariff.
"We are demanding that state government charges power tariff on the basis of actual consumption rather than fixed charges from ginners," Bansal said.

Punjab ginners are seeking relief from the state government in view of lesser crop arrivals in mandis because of extensive damage caused to crop by whitefly attack.
"Only seven lakh bales of cotton will arrive out of 15 lakh expected," Bansal pointed out.
"How will we run our ginning factories when there is heavy crop damage in the state," he said.