APTMA warns of massive unemployment

Punjab chief says textile mills will be forced to shut down

LAHORE:

Continuing to get irked by one development after another, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab Chairman Aamir Fayyaz has now warned that massive unemployment would be in the offing if the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) discontinued gas supply to textile mills in Punjab.

The SNGPL has informed Aptma Punjab that gas supply to mills could be discontinued in the prevailing winter season as pressure on limited resources piles up. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, the Aptma official said gas supply to textile mills was already low in November.



“The actual gas consumption of Punjab-based textile industry is equal to 60 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd), which is 5% of 1,200 mmcfd,” he claimed. He said 200,000 textile workers have lost jobs in the last five years.

He also criticised the government for the 40% reduction in cotton crop, claiming that a lack of proper research resulted in the supply of substandard seed to farmers.

“The government blames the weather for crop failure instead of conceding its own shortcomings,” he said, adding that Aptma was paying an annual amount of Rs700 million for research on cotton seed, but all in vain.



“Nearly 40 mills have already been closed down during the last four months but the promises made by both the prime minister and finance minister have yet to materialise,” he said

“The government has imposed Rs40 billion in new taxes on IMF instructions against a loan of $500 million,” he said, noting that the textile industry has already lost $800 million worth of exports.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th,  2015.

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