President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Muhammad Ishaq Butt has expressed deep concern over unscheduled load shedding of up to 16 hours in Sialkot.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday he said they had requested authorities that they should give special status to Sialkot and extend co-operation so that hard earned foreign orders were not cancelled but it was very unfortunate that no one paid attention to the problem as yet, Butt said. The SCCI president further stated that the matter had also been taken up with President Zardari at Governor house (Lahore). The President was informed about acute power crisis and was requested to provide 225 MW to Sialkot to keep the industry operational.
Similarly, the request was also made to Raja Pervaiz Ashraf who also assured to provide electricity. President Zardari issued directives to Secretary, Ministry of Water and Power that necessary arrangements should be made to provide 225 MW to Sialkot, however, implementation on President's directives had not been made as yet, he added.
The SCCI President said the arrangement was crucial for the soccer ball industry to complete orders of Soccer World Cup 2010 and also other industries to deliver goods as per foreign trade commitments. Butt demanded of the government to instruct PEPCO authorities to refrain from unscheduled load shedding. He also demanded that load shedding should be minimised in Sialkot and any further delay in improving the situation would result in collapse of the industry which would end up in massive unemployment.