Expressing concern over losses by protestors in Vehari in southern Punjab, President of Mulan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Mian Anis A Sheikh on Saturday urged the government for implementing the recommendations of the National Energy Conference.
A press statement quoted him as saying that there would have been no untoward incidents in Vehari, Faisalabad and other towns of Punjab if the ministry of water and power had introduced a uniform load management policy in line with the decisions of the energy conference. Neither industry nor human beings could survive in power outages lasting between 16 and 22 hours in scorching heat, he said.
Sheikh said that massive closures of industrial units because of unprecedented energy crisis had rendered hundreds of thousands of workers jobless in Punjab, forcing their children to choose between starving or going to school. Terming the lengthy power cuts discriminatory, he said that electricity and gas cuts in Punjab were deliberate. He did not elaborate. Important power projects such as Nandipur and Chichoki Malian had been delayed because of corruption. He said that in such a situation, it was difficult for the private sector to launch energy generation projects in Punjab.
Urging the Punjab government to forcefully raise its voice for the rights of the province. A leading trader Khwaja Muhammad Shafique condemned the arrest of 50 traders and institution of cases against 350 traders as well as ordinary citizens. He urged the authorities to immediately release the traders and called for withdrawal of cases against them.