The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has urged the Centre to take action against those responsible for cotton adulteration, as textile mills in southern states, particularly in Tamil Nadu, depend on cotton from northern states like Gujarat and Maharashtra for the consumption.
The association sent a letter to Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani requesting her intervention and prevail on the Gujarat Government to take necessary steps to curb the adulteration practice followed by certain section of the ginners in Gujarat.
A section of ginners in Gujarat have reportedly started mixing cotton waste (comber noil – waste extracted by spinning mills) in the virgin cotton with profit motive. The move is hampering the image of Gujarat and also the strenuous efforts put in by the farmers not only in the domestic market, but also in the international market.
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The alleged cotton adulteration has led to grievous problems. “The industry has been facing the problem of adulteration for the last few years and the magnitude has become several fold from the last cotton season,” M. Senthilkumar, Chairman, SIMA said in a statement issued by the organization.
The matter was brought to notice of the Minister of agriculture, Government of Gujarat and the Gujarat Ginners Association in December 2015. After failing to get any response from them, the textile mills have reduced the volume of purchase form Gujarat by 40-50% and started sourcing cotton from Telangana besides importing from countries like West Africa and Australia.
