Chairman Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) S.Z, Aziz Ahmed has asked President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani to direct Karachi Eclectic Supply Company (KESC) to exempt tanning industry from loadshedding. Talking to newsmen here on Friday, he said that Eid-ul-Azha was fast approaching and this was the season when tanneries get their basic raw material in the form of skins in bulk.
He also demanded of the government to immediately ban export of livestock and curb smuggling of goats and sheep to Iran and Afghanistan through borders. The PTA has demanded ban on export of goats and sheep as millions of animals have already been killed in flood. Aziz Ahmed said if ban was not imposed it would result in severe shortage of skins, which constitute raw material for the leather industry. It would also jeopardise working of the industry as a result thousands of people could lose jobs and government would also lose revenue from this industry. He again demanded for an immediate ban on export of animals as the government's Economic Co-ordination Committee did in case of wheat since its crop has been affected adversely by the floods.