MULTAN,Jan 27th: More than 3,50,000 workers lost their jobs and Textille millers forced to betray the foreign buyers by not fulfilling the commitment, even they could not meet the demand of Christmas and Pakistan lost huge foreign exchange, said all Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab Chapter Senior Vice Chairman Muhammad Anees Khawaja in a press statement he said SNGPL was violating the instruction of Caibnet committee and orders of Prime Minister by suspending the gas supply for 30 days a month .He said that textile exports are dwindling down day by day because of non-availability of Gas and electricity. M.Anees Khawaja has criticised the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL) for its mismanaged gas supply to the textile industry particularly in South Punjab, causing a colossal loss of over Rs 50 billion so far besides affecting direct employment of about half a million labourers across the Punjab.Khawaja said SNGPL is discriminating by closing gas of four regions. He said Faisalabad is given concession and gas was unavailable for 16 days in Faisalabad region while the rest of the regions are facing severe gas closures. He said, since December 21, 2010, the SNGPL has terribly failed in maintaining the spirit of the Cabinet Committee decision, as Textile Industry Lahore-I region (Sheikhupura, Bikhi and Nankana), Lahore-II region (Manga – Multan Road) is facing 25-26 days closure while Multan, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Islamabad, Peshawar, Abbotabad regions are being deprived of 30-31 days of gas. “Faisalabad is an exception where gas as closed only for 16 days,” he lamented.
He said the Cabinet Committee on Gas Load Management had held extensive meetings with the stakeholders before deciding to ensure five days a week uninterrupted supply to the textile industry, right from the basic to the high-end, on November 3, 2009. The SNGPL was directed accordingly to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to the textile industry on rotational basis in a transparent and fair manner.According to him, the SNGPL has curtailed 70 percent gas supply to the textile industry in above 3 major regions, as the textile industry was supplied with gas for only 20 days on an average out of 50 working days since November 22 till date.
He said 70 percent of the textile industry in Punjab is totally dependent on gas with no backup arrangements. Further the electricity outages have reached to the unaffordable levels of 6 to 8 hours a day, adding fuel to the fire. Resultantly, he said, millions of dollar Heimtextile orders have started flowing in the country but non-availability of gas is vanishing away this opportunity for the textile industry in Punjab.He said the textile industry was facing such an odd situation simply because of the mismanagement on the part of the SNGPL officials, who are negating the Cabinet Committee decision by curtailing the gas supply to the textile industry for 5 days a week instead of 2 days a week. It also shows that the SNGPL has failed to ensure transparency and fair approach for providing gas to the textile industry according to the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Gas Load Management. The terrible state of affairs could be judged from the fact that the textile industry was supplied with the gas for only six days in the current month of January, he pointed out. It also shows that the government functionaries were totally visionless on prioritizing as who should be provided with the available gas first, he added.He urged the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources to ensure transparent as well as fair implementation of the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Gas Load Management in the larger interest of national industry export and employment.