Textile industry in Punjab without gas supply for 31st day running

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Textile industry in Punjab is out of gas supply for the last 31 days.

The textile industry circles said gas supply to textile industry has been suspended for 31 days in Faisalabad region and for 28 days in Lahore region.

Resultantly, they added, the industry wheel is under pressure and fear of bankruptcies is mounting fast due to idle capacities for long. Not only this, hundreds of textile workers are out of jobs throughout Punjab and it is not easy for them to make both ends meet. It may be noted that the federal petroleum minister Dr. Asim Hussain was eating his words time and again on supply restoration. APTMA leadership has not only held rally but also staged a sit-in at the SNGPL. Later on, they vowed to defy gas load shedding from coming Monday in case the government failed to restore supply by then.

The Chief Minister Punjab has also taken serious notice of the situation, vowing to approach the court of law to redress the situation. However, very little is likely to change until middle of February when domestic pressure on demand side would come down with increase in atmospheric temperature. The textile industry circles are foreseeing heavy export losses ahead. According to them, the industry has already lost $2 billion exports during the first half of the current fiscal year and it is likely to suffer more in case no reversal of the situation takes place.