Industrialists get Punjab CM on their side

Shahbaz Sharif to stand by industrialists at march against electricity price hike.

FAISALABAD: The business community is going big with its long march plan, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has hopped aboard and decided to lobby in bringing electricity prices to previous levels.

“If the government does not reverse the fuel price adjustment charges, I will join the long march, said Shahbaz Sharif while addressing the business community at University of Agriculture Faisalabad on Monday.

Trade bodies of Faisalabad have called a strike for March 28 to protest the government’s decision to add fuel adjustment surcharges in monthly bills. The power tariff hike of 39% imposed in March is meant to cover the rise in the cost of fuel since August 2011.

He also said the federal government was discriminating Punjab with power cuts of 18 to 20 hours per day.

The textile sector has been destroyed and there was no option left but to shut them down and layoff employees, industrialist said.

The country’s reliance on the textile sector for exports grew and stood at a massive 56 per cent in fiscal 2011, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

The chief minister nominated PML-N central leader Ahsan Iqbal to take up the issue of fuel adjustment charges and prolonged power cuts with the water and petroleum ministers.

Shahbaz added that the federal government should focus on resolving energy issues instead of programmes like Benazir Income Support Scheme. Shahbaz said the amount which is being spent under this scheme should be spent on the new energy projects including dams, which will generate jobs and help reduce poverty rather than giving a monthly grant of Rs1,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2012.