Textile industry production units have started closing operations one after another due to suspension of gas supply under new load shedding schedule of 3.5 days a week by the SNGPL. Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab Ahsan Bashir said over 200 textile industry units in Punjab are hit badly with short supply of gas, which may cause colossal loss to national exports.
Meanwhile, reports from Faisalabad have suggested that supply to some 450 industrial units is also suspended on Wednesday for three days. The rising gas shortfall with some untoward incidents has put textile industry at halt, especially in Punjab. It may be noted that central Chairman APTMA Gohar Ejaz has been constantly in touch with presidency in Islamabad for resumption of gas supply to textile units. A meeting of President's committee on load management was due on April 6.
However, sources told Business Recorder that this meeting has been postponed. No specific reason was described for delaying the meeting, added the sources. Interestingly, Chairman APTMA had lambasted the SNGPL management in his last press conference, asking for gas supply immediately. The industrialist, like him, was pinning hope on Wednesday's meeting at the presidency but all in vein.
According to the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL), the gas supply to Punjab was 40 to 50 percent reduced due to the militants' attack on five major gas fields so the SNGPL decided three-days a week load shedding for industries in Punjab. But the industrial associations have rejected the new load shedding schedule, saying that the government has put all burden of load shedding on Punjab, as there was no load shedding in other provinces.