January 04, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 24, 1428

SHEIKHUPURA, Jan 3: Hundreds of labourers working on daily wages in different factories on Lahore Road protested the unscheduled loadshedding of gas in industrial units. They blocked the Lahore Road and threw traffic out of gear for quite some time while resorting to slogan mongering against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) for effecting the outages.

The workers, mostly belonging to Crescent Fabrics, National Pipes, Fazal Match Co, Mandiali Paper and Board Mills, Mughal Steel Industries and other enterprises, said that gas outages were rendering them jobless as owners were closing down their industrial units in which they were working and this was causing their families to starve.

The threatened a comprehensive protest if the gas authorities did not restore proper supplies to the industrial units.

Malik Manzoor Ahmad, a representative of industrial workers’ association, told reporters that according to an agreement between the factory owners and SNGPL, the latter was bound to supply gas to industrial units four days a week without interruption but this too had not happened.

SIALKOT: The entire Sialkot district witnessed as many as 12 hours of electricity loadshedding, paralysing all civic and mercantile activities. This was the longest loadshedding span in this district during the ongoing winter season.

The power supply remained suspended from 6am on Thursday morning to 3pm in almost all residential and commercial areas of Daska, Sambrial and surrounding areas. The situation was not different in Sialkot and Pasrur too.

The villages were the worst-hit, as the duration of the loadshedding spell was over 14 hours at some scattered places.

Local business, social and political circles have expressed grave concern over this prolonged power loadshedding, which was hampering business and household activities and adding to the citizens’ troubles.

The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and other local trade bodies have urged President Pervez Musharraf and Caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro to ensure an early end to the loadshedding of electricity and gas, enabling the business community to achieve export and other economical targets.

The SCCI president said that the power outages had affected production of goods, which were to be exported later and due to this shortfall of production, many exporters were unable to meet their deadlines and this alone had tarnished their reputation.

Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Central Chairman Ejaz A. Khokhar, Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Chairman Aamir Riaz Bhinder, Pakistan Gloves Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PGMEA) Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Younas and Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PSGMEA) Chairman Prof. Safdar Sandal also expressed their grave concern over the loadshedding of electricity and gas.

The Daska Engineering and Industrial Association has also termed the loadshedding of electricity and gas as a pity with the local industries.

Local industrialists said that the farm machinery manufacturing industry had been suffering from huge financial losses due to unscheduled loadshedding of electricity in Daska and its outskirts. They urged the Gujranwala Electric Power Company officials to at least announce a schedule for effecting power outages to save the industries from further colossal financial losses.