Power, gas outages hurt industry: Business forum

SIALKOT: Industrial production in Sialkot has been badly affected by unscheduled 18-hour power outages in a day, causing a financial loss of millions of rupees, said Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry while talking to the media.

Chaudhry said power and gas outages have rendered thousands of workers jobless as most of the factories in the city have stopped some production shifts.

The business community has announced that they would come out on the streets to protest against power and gas outages in the city. They said that the main trade bodies have repeatedly taken up the issue with officials of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and Gujranwala Electric Power Company, however no relief has been provided to the industries.

Central Chairman Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Ejaz Khokhar, said power and gas outages have been forced on the Sialkot business community under a conspiracy which has added to industry woes.

“Sialkot industries were earning foreign exchange to the tune of $1.26 billion annually and exports can increase further if the city is exempted from electricity and gas outages,” Khokhar said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2011.