At least 25-30 percent of industrial units have gone out of production in the Site industrial area because of anomalous gas pressure, industrialists complained on Thursday. Chairman of the Site Association of Industry (SAI) Mohammad Irfan Moton told Business Recorder that industrial production stopped on Thursday after gas pressure dropped abruptly, adding that several captive power generating units also stopped operating because of abnormally low gas pressure.
He said that after Punjab, low pressure of gas had also hit industries in Karachi, adding that most of textile and textile processing industries remained offline because of gas shortages. He said that the Site association has decided not to hold its annual event, the Eid Bachat Bazaar, this year.
The decision, he said, had been taken because of the prevailing law and order situation in and the possibility of heavy rains. Highlighting the security situation, he said not a single day went by without incidents of robberies, thefts, vehicle snatchings and shootouts in the area where the association usually held its Bachat Bazaar. He said that in this situation, setting up the market, regularly held for the past 16 years, was infeasible.
Criticising the market trend, he said that it was a global trend that prices of goods declined considerably on major religious events, but in Pakistan there was a tendency for an abrupt rise in prices. Every year a large number of factory owners from Site industrial area take active part in this Bachat Bazaar. However this year people would not be able to buy products at discount rates, he said.