The resolution of the issues will ease a burden of Rs175 billion on the sector annually.
“We will call another general body meeting on Sept 4 to decide about our strategy with regard to strike, if government fails to resolve issues,” Tanveer told reporters.
He said the association decided to defer the strike on the request of the finance minister who constituted four committees to resolve issues pertaining to the ministry of commerce, the ministry of water and power, the ministry of oil and gas and the Federal Board of Revenue.
Tanveer said that the association members had given him the mandate to defer the strike till Sept 4.
He said the standing committee on textile had also endorsed the viewpoint of the textile industry when the latter made a presentation on industry issues. Textile mills, he said, are being closed down due to wrong policies of the government.
Tanveer said the government over-burdened the textile industry by introducing GIDC worth Rs38bn, electricity surcharge worth Rs78bn and innovative taxes worth Rs65bn.
“Why textile industry should pay extra taxes to cover up inefficiencies of power sector, like theft, line losses and short recoveries,” Tanveer said, adding that the government first pay circular debt by taking credit from banks and later put it on the textile industry after converting the interest into surcharge.
He said the industry could not afford Rs14.5 per unit electricity tariff, which is almost double the price being charged in China, India and Bangladesh.
He said the textile millers were unable to bear this burden and compete in the region as textile industry which had capacity to produce products worth $3.4bn was at the verge of closure.
The association chairman said that between 2006 and 2013 Vietnam raised textile exports by 230pc, Bangladesh 160pc, China 97pc and India 94pc while Pakistan made a mere growth of 22pc, which was even less than the world average of 44pc.
He said that the viability of the textile industry had been challenged because of undue burden, and jobs of 15 million workers are at stake.
He said Pakistan added only one million spindles of cotton from 2009 to 2014 as against China adding 35m, Bangladesh 1.9m. China set up 300,000 looms, India 36,000, Bangladesh 22,000 while Pakistan set up only 1,319 looms during the last five years.
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