Prolonged outages paralyse business activities in Faisalabad

Hundreds of people including factory workers, daily wagers, labourers and shopkeepers on Monday staged protest demonstrations against prolonged load shedding of 20 hours in round the clock in industrial city. Outages paralysed life in city area, halting business and commercial activities. Demonstrators blocked the Samundri Road and Canal Road by burning tyres and placing hurdles after damaging the sign boards etc.
The protesters shouted slogans against the government and Fesco and demanded immediate end to prolonged and unscheduled load shedding. Industrial workers and daily wagers complained that power outages of up to 20 hours a day were affecting their livelihood. The angry protesters also broke signboards outside the Fesco office and burnt the electricity bills as a mark of protest. Police officers tried to negotiate with the protesters, but did not succeed in calming them down. Meanwhile, people belonging to different walks of life participated in the protest.
The demonstrators were carrying banners and placards and chanting slogans against the government and rental power producers. They burnt tyres at the main link roads, blocking traffic for two hours. Eunuchs also took out a protest rally from Mansoorabad. In a press statement, Chaudhry Salamat Ali, Chief Co-ordinator, and former Chairman, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA) North Zone expressed grave concern over the 20 hours load shedding of electricity in Punjab, which is yielding negative impact over the industrial and trade activities.
"Daily wagers, who have no alternative jobs, are facing serious circumstances, and committing suicide. No doubt, industrialisation plays an important role in the economic growth of a country that earns foreign exchange and also provides jobs to a large number of professional, technical people and labour force but in the absence of basic factor of production like gas & electricity, industrial productivity and efficiency is greatly hampered," he maintained.
Salamat Ali strongly reacted against the discrimination in electric supply to industry in Punjab and said that 20 hours load shedding was a premeditated conspiracy to demoralise over 100 million people of Punjab. The decisions of the present rulers in closed rooms were not in the interest of the country, because they were not bothered to take business community into confidence, he lamented. Expensive electricity was not in the best interest of the country, but this step was really a dangerous part of game, he added.