Mill owners’ association sounds nationwide bandh call for govt consideration of their ‘rescue’ plan

Barring a few exceptions, the nationwide call for two-day shutdown in the ginning mill industry received a good response on Tuesday in Saurashtra — the hub with over 700 ginning mills in the state.

“Nearly 95 per cent of the mills remained closed. Some five per cent remained open to clear the backlog,” said Anand Popat, secretary of Saurashtra Ginners Association.

The ginners’ association had given a nationwide bandh call for two days starting from November 25. The slide in export orders, coupled with a hike in Minimum Support Price (MSP), has hit the industry hard. The decision to sound a shutdown call was taken at a meeting attended by ginners from across the country at Kadi in Mehsana district on November 21.

Against an export of 1.3 crore bales in the last financial year, in the current year the sale has not reached even 1.5 lakh bales. Besides, with Cotton Corporation of India purchasing at the MSP of Rs 575 (per 20 kg) against last year’s price of Rs 407 (a hike of 40 per cent), the ginners say they are left with no option but to down the shutters.

More than 600 ginners, who had come from Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and different parts of Gujarat to discuss the situation at the Kadi meet, decided to put forward a rescue plan to the Central Government while declaring a total shutdown for two days. The rescue plan includes a demand to impose five per cent duty on import and rebate of five per cent on export.

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