Spokesman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has said disruption in power supply has brought the country to the verge of total destruction, particularly in the province of Punjab. Discos were carrying out 8-10 hours of announced and unannounced power outages on independent and grouped feeders, he said, adding the textile industry was highly energy-reliant in its very basic nature thus requires uninterrupted energy supply.
Aptma spokesman said the textile industry in Punjab has come to a complete halt therefore unable to produce goods for exports. In major industry clusters, he added, the textile mills have been left with no option but to close down their operations for one whole shift due to unavailability of electricity and gas. Viability of the textile industry is dependent on uninterrupted energy supply to operate on three shifts a day basis throughout the year.
He further added that 40% production capacity of textile industry has already been made idle for the last six months, shrinking the size of exports. The country is losing billions of dollars exports solely due to short supply of energy, both electricity and gas.
Resultantly, he deplored that work force of at least one working shift has already been rendered jobless due to the indifferent attitude of the government, as the industry is facing 8-12 hours of electricity loadshedding everyday. Aptma spokesman urged both the federal and provincial governments to deal with the power and gas crisis before it was too late.