Owners of textile mills have closed down at least 150,000 power looms in protest against the imposition of 2 per cent sales tax on the sector.
On Saturday, Council of Loom Owners’ Association (CLOA) chairman Waheed Khalid Ramay said the textile associations’ presidents had unanimously decided to shut down the textile sector if the imposition sales tax was not withdrawn.
Shakeel Ansari, the All Pakistan Textile Sizing Industries Associations (APTSIA) chairman, said the association had requested the government, five days earlier, to withdraw the sales tax but the request was not considered.
He said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was forcibly implementing SRO-154(1)/2013 and SRO-98(1)2013 which were totally unacceptable.
Ansari said that the textile industry was not in the position to bear the burden of costs as it was already at the verge of collapse due to high input costs and lack of cheap electricity and gas.
“Various clauses of the SROs are injurious to business communities’ interest and detrimental to economic activity in the country.” He said, more than 150,000 power loom units had been closed down in first phase. In the next phase, he said, the remaining textile units could also be closed which would result in massive unemployment.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2013.