More than 175 factories ceased functioning due to suspension of natural gas for three days by the SNGPL in South Punjab as a result more than 20,000 workers rendered jobless. Secretary General of Federation of Workers Union, Ashfaq Ahmed Khan said that industrial workers came on job after Eid-ul-Azha holidays and they found out that their factories have been closed for three days.
Syed Muhammad Aasim Shah, a leader of Value Added Textile Forum said that the export consignment remained halted, while the prolonged gas loadshedding yielding negative impact over the industrial sector of Faisalabad region, where more than 0.5 million labourers become jobless and 150,000 powerlooms units and hosiery remained closed in the country due to power loadshedding and suspension of gas supply.
Textile processing, printing, dyeing, sizing, readymade garments and stitching, soup manufacturing and textile chemicals manufacturing units were also remained closed due to three days gas loadshedding in a week. He said that the three days gas loadshedding in a week has virtually crippled the value added textile industry and escalating the prices of essential yarn in the market by speculators and hoarders.
He pointed out that the textile industry had installed modern and sophisticated machinery, which is now being turned into scrap. He lamented that the industry was neither getting adequate supply of yarn nor it was granted loans for working capital at minimum mark-up.
Shah said that due to deteriorating law and order situation in the country, our foreign buyers were shifting their focus on our close competitors like India, Bangladesh and China and were placing their export orders to the exporters of these countries.