The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO), within 24 hours of the finance minister commitment of zero-load shedding for industrial units during his budget speech on Friday, has sent a notice to the industry for power supply suspension of around 10 hours a day during Ramadan.
Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) chairman Adil Butt has shown concern over the government's move to observe almost 10-hour load shedding in industrial units during Ramazan despite finance minister promise of 24-hour power supply to the industry.
Adil Butt said that notice served to the industry by LESCO, one-day after the budget speech, has warned the industrial units to close their operations from 6-30pm to 4am and in case of violations the power supply would be disconnected for the whole month of Ramazan. Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association chairman Adil Butt said Pakistan's exports had continued to fall for a long time, and the government proposed load shedding plan for Ramazan in industry would cause further decline in Pakistan's exports as the exporters would not be able to meet the export deadlines on time.
Terming it as another setback for the economy, PHMA chairman said that without power supply, production activities would come to a halt in industries, thus taking a toll on the national economy. He said that due to insufficient power supply, industry was already operating far below its actual capacity, and long hours of load shedding during Ramazan would further dent its manufacturing activities.
He urged the federal government to maintain exemption of electricity load shedding to the industry's major consumers on independent feeders during Ramazan. He said the proposed 10 hours load shedding would force the industry to close down one shift and lay off thousands of workers across the province. This will be unfair to the labourers ahead of Ramazan.
He said the total load of industrial units on independent feeders could easily be managed by the Ministry of Water and Power in order to ensure smooth operations of industry. Terming energy as the lifeline of Pakistan's economy and most vital for the industrial development of the country, he said it was unfortunate that government could not make any comprehensive plan to cope with the rising energy demands. Adil Butt said the energy sector of Pakistan was still infested with many problems, as the ever-increasing demand for growth, increasing transmission and distribution losses due to outdated power network, electricity theft, and seasonal reductions in the availability of hydropower had worsened the situation.
Comments
Comments are closed.