Gas supply to 600 industrial units has been suspended for three days here from Wednesday morning by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) till April 30. Industrialists here have strongly protested against the three days' long gas load shedding schedule and announced that they will violate the schedule for first two days, and would observe holiday on Friday.
Talking to newsmen, Salamat Ali, Chairman of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) North Zone said that the severe gas load shedding would plunge the upcountry's value-added textile industry and its exports to disaster and closure of industrial units will bring jobless labour on roads causing industrial unrest and worsening law and order situation in the textile hub of Pakistan.
Apprehending negative impact of downslide in industrial investment, production and likely export commitments' default, he said that textile exports from upcountry, which were already under severe strain due to escalating cost of inputs and rise in prices of overhead items, have been dealt a deadly blow from closure of gas supply for three days a week.
Salamat said that gas load shedding, which continued for last eight months in conjunction with electricity load shedding, had forced a large number of industries and small and medium enterprises to close down. He said that this problem has resulted in the loss millions of jobs and is inflicting on the industrial sector alone annual loss of billions of rupees. Value-added textile industry and exporters are unable to export products timely and the buyers are losing confidence on Pakistani exporters, he pointed out.
He said that gas prices in the last couple of years have been raised by 90 percent. "As a result, our products are becoming uncompetitive in the international market, and stoppage of gas has further increased the problems of the industrialists and a large number of people, whose livelihood is associated with the industries."
He demanded that the government should work out solution to tackle this problem because along with hurting productivity, a large number of daily wage workers are in deep trouble due to closure of industrial units. He appreciated the decision of President Asif Ali Zardari for four-hour load shedding of electricity for industrial feeders. However, he demanded that gas load shedding be observed only one day in a week in the best interest of the country.