The textile industry is facing an acute shortage of energy therefore jobs of 15 million textile workers are at stake. The textile circles have criticised the Ministry of Textile Industry for not looking after the interests of the industry which was tantamount to deviation from its prime objective.
The Aptma leadership believed that the majority of mills were facing circumstantial default and not the willful default, as no one is in a position to pay off banks with gas supply curtailment for 164 days during 2011, up from 100 days in 2010 and 77 days in 2009. Also, they added, the SNGPL has kept supply cut off for 62 days in the first two months of the year.
Chairman Aptma Punjab Ahsan Bashir said the situation was going out of control with every passing day and majority of mill owners were ready to close down their business. He said the textile industry needed multi-pronged bailout strategy including uninterrupted power and gas supply on the one hand and restructuring of loans of the industry on the other. "The textile industry is not in a position to survive any further with burgeoning liabilities because situation is beyond its control," he said.
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