FAISALABAD, March 11: The Faisalabad Foundry and Engineering Industries Association has expressed fear that in case the government fails to resolve the iron crisis
, a number of cottage industries and engineering units may become non-functional, rendering thousands jobless.
Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, the association's president, Iftikhar Ahmed, said that hundreds of foundry and engineering units were facing a serious crisis due to sky-rocketing prices of iron and related raw material.
He claimed that the crisis was due to wrong policies of the government and indifferent attitude of the Pakistan Steel Mills management towards the local industry. He further said that the prices of iron products were beyond the comprehension of industrialists and had not only jolted the iron market but also resulted in closure of a number of ancillary industrial units.
He claimed that the construction sector had also sustained huge losses as contractors stopped work on mega projects because of the sudden increase in prices of steel and related products.
He maintained that hundreds of industrial, foundry and engineering units, which used iron as raw material, were on the verge of closure, but the government was playing the role of a silent spectator.
Meanwhile, Faisalabad Farmers Association president Mian Tahir Saeed said the growers were confronted with a financial crisis due to high prices of agricultural inputs following the increase in prices of iron.
He said that a set of toka and bailna, earlier available for Rs7,000 or Rs8,000, was now being sold by foundries for Rs13,000 to 15,000. In this situation, how could farmers be expected to compete with their competitors in the neighbouring countries, he asked.
Industrialists and farmers have urged President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to take stock of the situation and direct the authorities concerned to reduce the prices of iron and iron products forthwith.
