Loadshedding, low gas pressure: industrialists, labourers stage protest demonstration

Small industries in the city have started laying off their workers owing to non-availability of power to operate the production units, Senior Vice President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Younis Mohammad Bashir said on Friday.
He was talking to newsmen after a sit-in by industrialists and labourers against persistent 12 hours power loadshedding and low gas pressure in industrial areas of the city. He said the prolonged loadshedding had badly hit the industrial production which was continuously worsening with the passage of time.
Bahsir said that no industry could survive under the prevailing situation when there was no power and gas to operate the industrial units. He urged the government to adopt appropriate measures in order to provide uninterrupted power and gas supply to industries.
Speaking on the occasion, SAI Chairman Mohammad Irfan Moton said that meeting international and local commitments had become extremely difficult under the present conditions. The textile industrial machinery took around five hours to warm-up and restart production after remaining close for long hours, he said adding that presently the industries were operating hardly for 5 to 8 hours a day.
Moton further said that within the short time, operating industrial units was neither feasible nor affordable. He added that industrials were unable to generate enough return to pay salaries and clear the liabilities of KESC and other organisations. He urged the government to provide furnace oil to KESC so that it could operate its generators on full capacity. Another industrialist said that the monopoly of KESC was the cause of present problems and urged the government to adopt measures to allow other companies to install power generating units in the city.
Earlier, the demonstrators harshly criticised the KESC and its management for prolonged loadshedding. They expressed fear that if government remained silent on the issue, the situation could get worse and might lead to violence. Meanwhile, a delegation of industrialist including Chairman Businessmen Group and former president KCCI Siraj Kassim Teli, Chairman Sindh Board of Investment and former president KCCI Zubair Motiwala and President KCCI Mian Abrar Ahmad attended a meeting in Islamabad on gas load management.
They apprised Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain of the colossal production losses owing to long hours of loadshedding and low gas pressure. The Petroleum Minister agreed to devise a gas load management plan for KESC. The plan will be decided by the Petroleum Minister and Finance Minister on Saturday. The minister also assured them of maintaining the required gas pressure to the industries.