Demonstration: Industrialists protest against power outages
Hundreds of industrial workers, traders and industrialists staged protest against power outages in Sialkot on Wednesday.
They held a demonstration near the Small Industrial Estate and blocked the main Shahabpura Road for about three hours by burning tyres to protest unchecked and prolonged power outages. They also staged a sit-in and blocked the road by parking large-sized containers.
The protesters also forced all shopkeepers in the locality to close shops and join the protest. Workers and industrialists said that power outages had badly affected industrial production in the city due to which hundreds of workers and labourers were losing jobs.
Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry expressed concern over the aggravating energy crisis and urged the government to exempt the city from outages.
He termed the situation alarming and complained about a 40 per cent decline in Sialkot exports due to power and gas outages. “This decline can be a great setback for the national economy,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2011.
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