The textile sector has been forced to shed 60% of its workforce because of restrained productivity due to unscheduled and prolonged gas and electricity outages, according to the Council of Loom Owners Association Chairman Waheed Khaliq Ramay.
In Faisalabad, gas supply remains suspended almost five days a week to industries, which also face unscheduled power outages for almost 12 hours a day. The situation has forced industrialists to shut down manufacturing units, which in turn has pushed labour to migrate to other regions in search for jobs.
According to Ramay, the entire textile industry – from yarn manufacturers to printing mill owners – has been paralysed due to the energy crisis, while large quantities of unfinished textiles are being wasted due to production bottlenecks. Textile exporters, industrialists and labor groups are blaming the government’s macroeconomic mismanagement and inactivity for the sinking textile industry.
Irtiza Khan, a leading textile exporter, urged the government to implement new policies in order to save the textile industry from collapsing completely and to secure the jobs of laborers to prevent widespread unemployment.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@latif taseer:
The records were borken not on the amount of goods exported....But was broken due to the devalued currency. Which is never good....
last year we broke all previous textile records inspite of these same issues i am sure this yr too we'll break last years exports in textile.