Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has strongly criticised the government's decision suspending gas supply to the Punjab industry for indefinite period and said the move would destabilise the Punjab economy.
"The PPP government was playing dirty game and the discrimination in gas supply would exterminate the Punjab industrial sector. The PPP government was utilising all its energies to punish the people of Punjab and taking measures to stabilise the Punjab economy," the PML-N senior leader Mohammad Pervaiz Malik said here on Monday.
"The PML-N fully supports the business community and would not play the role of silent spectator on the issue of gas suspension to the Punjab industry," he said. He also warned the government to immediately restore gas to the Punjab industry and put an end to discrimination with Punjab, otherwise, the PML-N would react strongly.
Malik said the PPP government was utilising all its energies to punish the people of Punjab and taking measures to destabilise the Punjab economy. He added that trade and industry condition in Punjab was suffering due to attitude of the PPP regime. He said that thousands of industrial units were closed down due to discriminatory suspension of gas supply to the Punjab industry. "Million of industrial workers have already lost their jobs, their families were compelled for starvation but the PPP government was leading country towards obliteration.
He reminded that a couple of days ago, Punjab industrialists staged a historical protest in front of Governor's House but despite taking measures to improve the situation, SNGPL has suspended the gas supply to the Punjab industry for indefinite period.
He said the destruction would not be restricted to the Punjab level but national economy would also feel the heat as the most of export-oriented industries were situated at Punjab. He said textile sector was the largest export-oriented sector of the country with more than 60% share in the total exports. Despite its importance, he said, SNGPL authorities have suspended the gas supply to this sector as well.
He said that the textile sector was already facing heavy losses due to one-day gas load shedding and now gas load shedding for indefinite period would end the production. In this situation, exporters would not be able to meet their export orders; foreign buyers would shift their focus to other countries thus deepening the financial crisis. He said that the country was enriched with vast natural gas reserves but not being exploited due to wrong policies of the government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010

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