President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry Khawaja Muhammad Usman welcomes the assurance of Federal Textile Minister Abbas Khan Afridi regarding the uninterrupted power supply and reducing the duration of load shedding after Eid-ul-Fitr in Punjab.
He said that Eid was not far away, local manufacturers, textile millers, power loom owners/workers were suffering hardships due to 10 to 12 hours load shedding resultantly thousands of workers rendered jobless due to closure of one shift. Khawaja Usman said there is no truth in this claim that the government is providing electricity to the domestic consumers on priority during the Holy Month of Ramazan. He said Fasting people are suffering more because of power load shedding. He said South Punjab is generating more than 3,000MW electricity in spite of that it is facing long duration of power load shedding. Khawaja Usman hailed the efforts of textile industry to make sure the refunds within three months of current fiscal year and all arrangements have been finalised to this effect by the ministry. He said that Prime Minister should announce a package for the exportable products industry and bring down mark-up on long-term finance and export refinance for textile industry besides strengthening the value-added textile industry to get maximum benefit of market access from the EU under the GSP plus, he said. Afridi appreciated the textile industry, particularly the Punjab-based industry, for co-operating with the government in a crisis like situation and sacrificing for domestic consumers in the month of Ramazan.