Industrial investment in Punjab has come to a halt due to long periods of gas load-shedding and industrialists are shifting their export businesses to Bangladesh and other countries. Commenting on this industrial upheaval, Chaudhry Salamat Ali, Chairman, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) North Zone said that it is not possible for any industrial unit to remain closed for 22 days a month and pay its workers for 30 days.
Many export-oriented industries and stitching units of Faisalabad have shifted to Bangladesh where uninterrupted power and gas supply is provided to the industries on cheaper rates, especially captive power at a rate of rupees 1.75 per unit. Answering questions of media men, Chaudhry Salamat questioned that when the Prime Minister of Pakistan cannot implement his promises, how could he solve energy, financial, unemployment and worst ever law and order crises. Government is printing currency but is not ready to cut its expenses. Resultantly, inflation is on the rise, he added.
He said that factories and trade have closed. There is no income source for the industrialists and they have gone bankrupt, while investment of billion rupees is sinking. Only in yarn and cloth markets, about one billion rupee trading has been defaulted but government is taking no action to save the industries, he added.
Answering a question, Chairman PHMA North Zone said that current load shedding of gas will come with extreme consequences for the economy. He alleged that government has adopted a discriminatory policy for upcountry industries, as supply of gas to Punjab is halted for almost five days a week, whereas other are enjoying nearly uninterrupted supply of gas.
Textile manufacturers and exporters are badly affected by this action of SNGPL and industrialists are facing great problems in maintaining production cycles. He cautioned that due to stoppage of gas, textile industry is unable to produce exportable goods, which will result in complete halt to national exports.
Meanwhile, more than 600 industrial units, most of them of textile sector, 100,000 power-looms and hundreds of vendor industries remained closed on the third consecutive day of third week of current month on Tuesday. Due to four-day gas load-shedding in Faisalabad, about 400,000 workers, most of them daily wagers, have become jobless.