The National Assembly Standing Committee on Textile Industry on Monday demanded the government exempt the textile sector from the electricity and gas load shedding. The demand was made in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari to discuss the problems of the industry.
Members of the committee expressed concern over the load shedding in the textile industry, as it was creating problems for investors as well as employees. Chairman Ansari was of the view that the unavailability of gas was alarming and the textile sector was being affected at a very large scale. “Around 40,000 people have been left unemployed,” he said.
The members said it was important to exempt the sector from gas and electricity load shedding, adding that the government should introduce an equitable system of gas load management for all provinces. The committee also summoned the chief executive of FESCO in its next meeting to discuss the issue of load shedding in the textile industry.
Member Mahmood Hayat Khan said the price of cotton should be standardised so that the farmers could earn a reasonable profit.
The committee suggested the government buy two million cotton bails that could be supplied in the market as the time of shortage of cotton in the market. Earlier, Ansari directed Textile Secretary Shahid Rasheed to examine the report of the subcommittee regarding the expenditure of Rs 500 million by the management of the Karachi Textile City for earth filling.
Officials of NESPAK admitted that it was a technical mistake by the officials of the textile city to spend extra money in the earth filling case.
The committee directed the secretary to take action against those responsible in this regard. The committee also suggested selling plots on low prices in the textile city to invite the investors’ interest.
