'All industrial towns of Sialkot should be exempted from power outages'

President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Ghulam Mustafa Choudary has said all industrial towns of Sialkot should be exempted from electricity and gas loadshedding keeping in view the city's unique export culture. He was of the view that Sialkot, Gujranwala and Faisalabad cities of Punjab if exempted from loadshedding will play a great role in boosting the export volume besides providing employment opportunities to thousands of industrial workers, he said.
Unscheduled and long hours of power outages are badly hitting the industrial sector in Sialkot and the productivity is at its lowest ebb. Thousands of small and medium enterprises situated in and around the city are engaged in honouring their international commitments. Through export, Sialkot based small and medium industries were earning foreign exchange amounting over $1 billion yearly and strengthening the national exchequer. It is very unfortunate that unscheduled electricity loadshedding was being carried out during peak hours as a result of which manufacturers and exporters were confronting multiple problems. Besides, people in general were facing serious hardships due to sleepless nights while many people are suffering from depression and hypertension due to the prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding.
Sialkot produces footballs, field hockey sticks, cricket gear and boxing gloves, which are used in international games including the Olympics and World Cups. It may be mentioned that surgical and sports goods industries are the oldest industries which were playing tremendous role not only in strengthening national economy but also in providing employment opportunities to hundreds industrial workers.
Despite several internal problems like high tariff of power, gas loadshedding, law and order situation the local exporters and manufacturers were honouring their international commitments to keep their presence in international market. Most of the manufacturers and exporters are unhappy with the current policies of the government especially with electricity loadshedding and high tariff electricity as a result of which the prices of raw material has increased.