Govt enforces two-day weekly off in Punjab

Industrialists advise govt to reduce yearly holidays in the face of loadshedding.

FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mian Zahid Aslam has said that the Punjab government’s decision to enforce two holidays per week will help conserve electricity at a time when the country is facing massive shortfalls, but the number of extra holidays throughout the year needs to be minimised as businesses and industries are already losing substantial working days because of the energy crisis.

Aslam continued that  in addition to number of gazetted holidays, normal weekly holidays in a year including scheduled, unscheduled and forced load-shedding work-days off per week add up to a huge number of days without work to businesses and industries. It is imperative that the number of holidays be minimised to keep businesses operational and the industrial wheel running, he said.

Industry in Faisalabad faces gas load-shedding four days a week, which, coupled with electricity load-shedding, might have a negative effect on current production capacity and bring down employment rates to 30%, warned Aslam.

He said that the real solution to the problem lies in enhancing power generation to accelerate an industrial revival in the country, and hoped that government is already taking short- and long-term steps to overcome the energy crisis. Aslam advised the government that reducing the number of holidays in a year is necessary to keep businesses operational and the industrial wheel running to ensure a revival of the economy.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2013.

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