Home textile exports worth $80 million hit by gas loadshedding

Exports of home textile worth 80 million dollars from upcountry have been hit by gas load shedding coupled with electricity over the last eight days rendering 8000 daily wagers jobless, said Adil Manzoor Ellahi, Acting Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association talking to newsmen here Tuesday.
Apprehending negative impact of downslide in industrial production and likely export commitments default, Adil said that new spell of Gas Load Shedding will cripple the Industry and have extreme consequences to the economy. Textile industry is in dire straits due to closure of gas over the last eight days.
He said, textile exports from the country which were already under severe strain due to escalating cost of inputs and raise in prices of overhead items have been dealt a deadly blow of total closer of Gas supply. Elaborating, he said that Sui Northern Gas authorities have cut off Gas supply to textile manufacturing units over the last 8 days due to major shortfall of Gas.
In case of closure of textile industry, a worsened law and order situation will emerge due to unemployment of a large number of labour force in the industries and give further rise to inflation as result of increased costs of production of export commodities; something the government needs to address with extreme urgency said Adil Manzoor Elahi.
Acting Chairman said that current load shedding of gas will come with extreme consequences to the economy and also criticised that government had adopted a discriminatory policy for the up country industries, as supply of gas to Punjab had been halted for almost five days a week, whereas the other areas were enjoying nearly uninterrupted supply of gas.
Textile manufacturers and exporters are badly affected by this action of SNGPL and industrialists are facing great problems in maintaining production cycles. He said that due to stoppage of gas, textile industry is unable to produce exportable goods which will result in complete halt to national exports, he said.
Adil said that majority of daily wage workers are left with no work, resulting in them not even earning enough money to even feed their families with one meal a day. Under the prevailing conditions, industries are even forced to lay off their permanent staff and labour to keep their costs at a minimum, and despite such drastic measures, the industries are still not able to meet their costs and some are being forced to run their operations in losses.
PTEA Acting Chairman said that as if the existent threats of electric load shedding, high mark-up rates, high inflation rates, and the ever deteriorating law and order situation were not enough for the industry, which was barely surviving given the circumstances; this new threat of Gas Load Shedding will cripple the industry altogether unless immediate action was taken by the government to resolve this very critical issue.
He demanded that decision of gas load shedding should be taken back immediately and gas should be supplied to the industries for at least 5-days. He warned that as natural consequence of long gas load shedding, industrials and labor force would be completed to come on roads to protest.