All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Ahsan Bashir has called for an uninterrupted power supply to textile industry in Punjab to rescue it from a total disaster. He lamented that the textile industry on independent and grouped feeders in Punjab is being subjected to eight to 10 hours a day unannounced load shedding against four hours a day announced load shedding.
According to him, the industry is being denied power supply in a situation when gas supply was heavily curtailed due to cold weather conditions. He said this alarming situation was translating into excessive shift closures and massive layoffs across the industry in Punjab.
Ahsan said the textile mills are timely paying utility bills to DISCOs with minimum line losses and 24/7 power requirement. But still it was not understandable that why the government was not serious in prioritizing such a potential customer in order to earn revenue and do away with the problem of circular debt, he added.
As of December 2011, the textile industry has already registered 35-40 per cent decline of exports in quantitative terms. He said the industry has strong apprehensions that country may lose $300 million per month during the 2nd half of 2012 due to dearth of energy available to the export-oriented textile industry. He said the industrial unrest is on the rise as the energy managers are shutting down 132KVA lines for textile industry in Punjab. APTMA Punjab chairman said the textile industry was under serious threat of closure followed by bankruptcies, as its capacity of cash generation is at halt being a direct victim of energy shortage in the country. Further, he added that the industry was unable to meet deadlines against exports orders, earning a reputation of unreliable supplier in the world markets.
He has urged the government to redress the situation immediately and ensure uninterrupted power supply to textile industry enabling it for earning foreign exchange and retaining jobs in the larger economic interest of the country.
