LAHORE: Chief Minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday said that the closure gas for industries is a conspiracy against the province.
Speaking to the media after meeting with industrialists in Lahore, Sharif said that it had earlier been decided, in a meeting with Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Naveed Qamar, that equal loadshedding would be carried out in all provinces for two days, but it was only Punjab that was experiencing the loadshedding.
Sharif said that he will visit Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani with traders and industrialists from Punjab and ask him to help resolve the issue.
He said that thousands of workers were unemployed because of the loadshedding and that he would protest alongside them if the issue was not resolved.
In a report published in The Express Tribune, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) had announced that industries would face one to three days and CNG stations two days per week without Sui gas this winter, but there would be no gas load shedding for domestic consumers. SNGPL had said the gas supply management policy would be applicable up to March 15.
According to the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry the suspension has already caused the closure of over 1,300 industrial units and that around 40 per cent of industrial units in Punjab run on gas, which could mean no production by almost half of the industry if regular supply of gas is not resumed.
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