FAISALABAD – The signs of collapse have started appearing on the business horizons of Faisalabad while the textile industry is the worst-affected, thanks to the gas and electricity crisis. The Faisalabad Dry Port (FDP) set up in 1990 to facilitate the local exporters and promote outward export is literally fighting for its life in the ‘intensive care unit’ in the midst of textile crisis.
Workers and entrepreneurs usually represent two different camps and are mostly pitched against each other due to their obvious clash of interests. But now they have realised that the survival of one is linked to the prosperity of the other. A 45-year-old factory worker, Ghulam Muhammad, a resident of a shanty town, was down with flu. He was advised a complete bed rest for three days. He ignored the doctor’s caution and came out along with his fellow workers to protest against the cruel five-day gas load shedding schedule for industry.
This is a back stage of last Monday’s large-scale protests held throughout the length and breadth of the Manchester of Pakistan, that is fast turning into Somalia’s Capital Mogadishu or any African city where starvation and crimes go hand in hand. Thousands of industrial workers have lost their jobs due to gas and electricity crisis.
The city of more than 10 million people, famous for its flourishing textile industry, has been significantly declining in terms of export and business due to the energy crisis during the last three years. When two years ago Pakistan accepted the most controversial US aid package titled Kerry Lugar Bill, the textile exporters of Faisalabad openly offered the government that they could generate a foreign exchange revenue of 20 billion US dollars per annum which is almost 3 times more than Kerry Lugar aid of $7.5 billion to be given in five years. The only pre-condition was the government must guarantee the uninterrupted power supply to the industrial units of Faisalabad.
The crisis emerged at a time when Faisalabad-based business community was hopeful of doubling the existing 10 billion US dollars annual export target. But instead of the proposed increase, it is feared that this year export will remain less than it was last year. When an able and efficient workforce is made redundant due to scarcity of work opportunities in a society, it is a warning to the movers and shakers of that community that a horrible time is coming ahead.
This is exactly what is happening in and around the city where the street crimes have surpassed all previous records. The city was once a host of thousands of the workers coming from the other districts of the Punjab to work in the textile sector, but the situation has reversed now. Thousands of workers have been fired as power loom factories have been closed down after suffering heavy losses.
Some of the flagship industrial units have been closed, thanks to the gas and electricity crisis, the world’s highest interest rates in the banking sector and the shortage of raw material in the local market. But these are not the only factors; the government’s indifference to the crisis is the key to the imminent collapse of the textile infrastructure.
The gravity of the situation was graphically highlighted by the statement of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif who called Faisalabad as the target of a discriminatory gas load shedding by the federal government. He defended his position by throwing the fallout on the federal government. Some of the analysts say that the discriminatory gas load shedding had led to the flight of capital from Faisalabad to Karachi or elsewhere and it is a conspiracy against the province.
The signs of collapse have started appearing on the business horizons of the city. Faisalabad Dry Port (FDP) set up in 1990 to facilitate the local exporters and promote outward export is literally fighting for its life in the ‘intensive care unit’ in the midst of textile crisis.
The once great hustle and bustle of traders usually seen in the offices of FDP has vanished and the premises is now showing a dilapidated scene of a ghost house as Faisalabad based exporters prefer to ship their cargo from Karachi. The monthly average cargo handling that earlier ranged between 125-150 containers has now decreased to 15-20 containers.
It is a matter of mere coincidence or a bitter reality that an organisation that appeared on the economic horizons of the country during the era of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto is going to witness its collapse and dissolution in the reign of her successors.
The last week’s statement of Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association Punjab Chairman Syed Faheem Mahmood Shah is quite relevant in the context of Faisalabad. During his interview to Pakistan Today he claimed that the textile sector had the potential to pay off all foreign debts of the country within three years if the federal government ensured uninterrupted electricity and gas supplies to the Punjab. All Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association Chairman Chaudhry Salamat Ali’s fiery speech at Monday’s rally was significant.
He was speaking without wearing a shirt to symbolise the future of workers and traders in the textile industry. It reminds us of Mahatma Gandhi who arrived in London to attend the Roundtable Conference. When he was asked by a journalist why he was not wearing a shirt, he replied that the British rulers had pulled away clothes from their Indian subjects. The rally ended on a drastic warning by All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Saeed who said they would march towards Islamabad if their demands were not met.
