Businessmen have expressed fears that suspension of gas supply for four days a week will lead to massive layoffs in the industry and asked the government to take back the decision for the sake of economy.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said if smooth gas supply was not restored, thousands of industrial workers, particularly daily-wage earners, would face retrenchment. “If there is no gas and electricity, how can a industrial unit continue operations.”
Sheikh said it would be difficult for the industry in Punjab, which employs over 15 million people, to meet export orders worth millions of dollars in the face of gas shortage.
“The rise in the number of unemployed will definitely provoke anti-government sentiments and street crimes,” he said and urged the government to immediately shelve the “industry closure plan”.
“How can the industry afford to pay a high mark-up when there is no gas for us,” he asked. He pointed out that globally the industry was given top priority and contrary to that the industry in Pakistan got least importance and other sectors were given priority.
He said around 40 per cent of industrial units in Punjab ran on gas and the supply disruption meant no production by almost half of the industry and loss of millions of rupees worth of revenues to the government. According to Sheikh, the industry was denied gas for 77 days in 2008-09, 100 days in 2009-10 and 160 days in 2010-11.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2011.
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