LAHORE – Pakistan Canvas Tents Manufacture and Exporters Association (PCTMEA) and Power Looms Association (PLA) Kasur have jointly called for a strike against the recently imposed reformed GST and flood surcharge.
In a joint statement issued on Monday, PCTMEA and Power Loom Association Kasur condemned the imposition of a 17.5 percent reformed GST and a 15 percent flood surcharge on income tax, saying that the move will prove detrimental for the business sector.
They said that the government had already failed to meet the textile sector’s electricity and gas demands and had now imposed new taxes. They also expressed solidarity with textile and power loom associations of Faisalabad, Gujranwala and other cities in their strikes.
PCTMEA Chairman Maqsood Sabir Ansari said that textile exports generate massive foreign exchange for the country, despite gas and electricity shortage. “Imposing new taxes in such an environment will choke the textile sector and exports will suffer as international markets are highly competitive,” he said.
He claimed that, if the government does not withdraw its decision, a countrywide strike would be held, in addition to a shut down of their manufacturing units and yarn markets. Power Loom Association Kasur President Chaudhry Ashraf Gujjar said that the move is “harmful” for a large number of power loom workers, who will be rendered jobless if manufacturing units are shut down.
“Families of labourers, home industry owners and small businessmen depend upon the textile sector. The small industry is already under huge stress considering the high power tariff and load-shedding,” he said.
Other office bearers of power looms association including General Secretary Muhammad Asghar Ansari, Senior Vice Presidents Usman Aziz Ansari and Shakeel Ahmad Ansari also condemned the new taxes and supported the strike.
