All Pakistan Shuttleless Looms Association (Proposed) on Saturday warned the government of shutting down their manufacturing units if normal power supply to the industry was not restored in a week. The association strongly condemned the KESC for a 12 to 14 hours electricity loadshedding in industrial areas of Karachi on the pretext of low supply of gas from SSGC.
The utility companies are bound legally and ethically to provide uninterrupted power to the bulk users. In general, Karachi being an industrial hub of Pakistan and stopping the wheels of industry in Karachi tantamount to halting the entire economy of Pakistan.
In particular, the small factory owners of All Pakistan Shuttleless Looms Association (Proposed) like the ones represented by our proposed association cannot and will not be able to sustain this very heavy blow and may serve as the last nail in the coffin of this otherwise vibrant and viable industry. Our industry forms the backbone of the home textile industry in Pakistan. This industry earns close to two billion dollars in foreign exchange and the 50 percent of it is fabric produced on our looms.
So it is safe to say that directly or indirectly we contribute more than one billion dollars to the foreign exchange earning of Pakistan. This industry is already suffering heavily from major international factors such as unprecedented prices of raw material and low demand in major markets of Pakistan like USA and Europe due to economic downturn.
It is fighting on other fronts such as law & order, high utility tariffs in the region and high cost of production but shocks like this one may not be able to withstand. "We earnestly appeal to the authorities concerned to immediately restore smooth electricity supply to all the industrial areas of Karachi or be prepared to pay a very high social cost in terms of massive unemployment. Lives of thousands of labours and workers are at stake and the government should intervene at the highest level to end loadshedding
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