Low gas pressure hits textile production

Low pressure gas supply affected production of textile industries by 30 percent in Lahore and Sheikhupura zones, said industry sources on Saturday. According to the industry sources, the gas pressure remained dismal low due to rise in demand with drop in mercury, leaving the industry into a troublesome situation despite three days a week gas supply arrangement by the SNGPL.
They said the production capacities were failed to cope up with low pressure gas supply and the SNGPL failed to redress the grievance. Meanwhile, the industry sources further revealed that the SNGPL had reverted back to original plan of treating Lahore and Sheikhupura as two separate zones from next week. Accordingly, each zone would be supplied gas separately to maintain pressure standard. Therefore, the industry would receive four days a week gas supply until the low temperature weather is over.
Meanwhile, power shortfall continued uninterrupted with heavy spells of unannounced load shedding. Textile mills on independent and grouped feeders suffered from eight to 10 hours load shedding each day due to over 5000MW power shortfall in the system. It may be noted that the industry experts suggest that over 40 percent capacity is idle due to energy crisis, which is not likely to be over during the current calendar year.