President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), Ali Raza Saeed Shah has said due to gas loadshedding not only industry's growth has come to a complete halt but it has also multiplied the miseries of people manifold.
Rawalpindi is facing massive gas loadshedding in both domestic and industrial areas, which has left thousands of daily wagers jobless, making impossible for the already inflation-ridden masses to arrange two times meal, he said while addressing the chairmen of the RCCI Standing committees during a meeting held at Chamber House here on Thursday.
He said that owing to power outages, gas was the only alternate source of energy to meet the energy requirements, however, prevailing gas crisis was hurting the industry a lot. Ali Raza said that the recent crisis showed the lack of the government planning in the past; as no alternate energy resource project was initiated to meet the future energy requirements of the country.
He further said that industry played vital role in the country's economy and half of the industrial units have been closed due to the energy shortages. He demanded of the government to start new project immediately to deal with the current situation. He also criticised the expected hike in the petroleum prices of Rs 5 from the January 1, which will further create problems for the industry.