Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has started gas shedding for industrial units of the region from Wednesday morning, which will be continued till March 12 at 06:00 am. Resultantly, more than 600 industrial units including textile processing, printing, dyeing, sizing, weaving and knitting factories were remained closed, while 380 CNG stations were also remained closed on the second day.
Gas shedding is yielding negative impact over the export oriented and labour intensive industries, which is creating unemployment and lawlessness. Sheikh Muhammad Saeed, Regional Chairman, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) expressed grave concern over the three days gas shedding and announced that business community and workers would protest against gas shedding and continuously violation of announcements of Prime Minister and President of Pakistan. We will stage sit-in before the SNGPL office situated at Sargodha Road on Friday, he added.
Commenting over the prevailing situation, Chaudhry Salamat Ali, Chairman, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) North Zone said that the new three-day gas shedding announced by SNGPL is a dangerous step against Industrial activities of Punjab, which is yielding negative impact over the national economy. The prevailing crisis of energy, financial upsets, and worst ever law and order situation is a part of conspiracy hatched by the some political elements to crush political rivals in Punjab. He said that massive challenges have already crippled the industrial activities.