Chairman Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) Northern Zone, Khawaja Muhammad Mehr Ali on Saturday strongly condemned discriminatory suspension of gas supply to the Punjab industries including the leather tanneries, which are already facing numerous challenges.
He was addressing a press conference on Friday. Central Chairman PTA, S. M. Naseem also attended the press conference. Ali said that jobs of more than one million workers were at risk due to suspension of gas supply to the industries. He said that the leather industry required uninterrupted gas supply otherwise its precious stock may putrefy. The industries required an insignificant amount of gas as compared to other industries. The Punjab tanneries needed 16 mmcfd gas, which was not unmanageable and was equal to gas consumption of only 2 textile mills, he added.
The PTA chairman said that gas suspension in winter season has now become a routine. Ali said that the leather industry was an efficient industry, earning more than $1 billion annually and supplying gas to an efficient export earner would be beneficial for the country. He urged Prime Minister Gilani to resolve this serious issue that could prove fatal for the leather industry.
Naseem and Ali appealed to the government and government of Punjab to assure uninterrupted gas supply to the leather industry so that they could meet their export orders on time otherwise the industry may further lose its export orders and the country would also lose foreign exchange. Ali also announced that industrialist and workers of leather industries would join the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) sit-in on Saturday (today).
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