While cotton farmers in Telangana are saddled with virulent attack of pink bollworm and loss of crop due to late rains, cotton mills and traders are facing the problem of flight of cotton to neighbouring States.
The millers and traders have alleged that their peers from the neighbouring States are buying cotton in huge quantities without any licence, denying them the raw material.
“In this process, they allege, the State is losing heavily in taxes,” Kakkirala Ramesh, Telangana Cotton Miller’s and Traders Welfare Association, told Business Line.
“We have estimated that cotton worth Rs 20 crore is being bought unauthorisedly by traders from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Besides losing raw material for cotton mills, we are also losing the raw cotton seed to the solvent plants elsewhere,” he felt.
The association leaders have met Telangana Marketing Minister T Harish Rao and submitted a memorandum, explaining to him the losses suffered by the mills, traders and the Government because of this illegal activity.