The suspension of gas supply of two industrial estates of the provincial metropolis and supply of low-pressure of natural gas to CNG stations on Wednesday crippled commercial and industrial activities in the province.
The suspension and provision of low-pressure gas supply had resented the business community as both Industrialists Association Peshawar (IAP) and CNG Stations Owners Association has threatened to go on strike against the treatment met out by the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SNGPL).
"The suspension of gas supply has rendered 120 industrial units with a labour force of 36,000 closed in the province," IAP President Nauman Wazir told Business Recorder. He said the industrial units had closed down and no industrial production has been going on for the last 24-hours.
The Association, in an emergency meeting had given the ultimatum of immediate restoration of gas supply to the industrial units, he added. Otherwise, he said they would go on strike against the highhandedness of the SNGPL authorities.
The Industrialists Association president said: "We had collected details regarding the supply of natural gas to the industrial estates of other provinces and no such situation had reported from any other parts of the country.
He said that industrial units in Faisalabad, Kot Lakphat, Lahore, Badami Bagh, Lahore, Sialkot and three industrial states of Gujranwala are running in full swing and none of the industrial units had closed due to the suspension of gas supply.
He called for treatment of the industrialists of NWFP at par with other parts of the country. He said that they had called for immediate restoration of the gas supply to the two industrial estates, Hayatabad Industrial Estate and Small Industries Estates, Kohat Road, Peshawar.
The similar situation was at the CNG stations, which remained closed due to the supply of low-pressure gas to the stations resulting in increase of the consumption of petrol. "The provision of low-pressure gas has brought our business to halt threatening the very machinery of the stations," said Ikhtiar Wali, president, Association.
He said that not only the supply of low-pressure gas, but also the massive load shedding started by the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (Pesco) is also badly affecting their businesses. Pesco has attributed increase to the load shedding to decline in power generation by the power stations due to fall in the water level of big water reservoirs and supply of low-pressure gas to the power generating plants in the country.
The associations of the CNG stations owners in the province have also held an emergency meeting to review the situation and register their protest over the matter. The association was unanimous in going to any extent in protest against the supply of low-pressure gas to the stations.
The Association, he said, will even not hesitate from going to give province-wide strike call against what he called the highhandedness of the SNGPL authorities. In this connection, he said future line of action would be announced shortly.
The closure of the CNG stations due to the supply of low-pressure gas had left the transport with no option other than consuming petrol. The increase in consumption of petrol would bear negative effect on the national economy as the country was used to pay a handsome amount in shape of subsidy to the importers of the commodity.
In this connection, a delegation, headed by the newly elected president of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI), Haji Mohammad Asif also held separate meetings with Pesco Chief Executive Brigadier Sakhi Marjan Khan and SNGPL General Manager Momin Khan and discussed the matters of electricity and gas load shedding in the province with them.
They were told about the concerns of the massive power load shedding and suspension of gas supply to the industrial estates. The SNGPL general manager assured that gas supply to the industrial estates would be restored.
The Pesco chief attributed the suspension of power supply to the decline in power generation at the national power grid station. He assured the businessmen that before load shedding at industrial estates a schedule would be announced for them to make arrangements for running their units according to the scheduled timetable.
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