GUJRAT: The Punjab government has declined to accommodate local cutlery industry’s demand for the allocation of Rs350 million fund to provide electricity and gas in Wazirabad Small Industrial Estate (WSIE), according to the Pakistan Cutlery and Stainless Steel Utensils Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCSSUMEA). Instead, owners of industrial plots have been asked to bear the provision cost of these basic utilities, the association added.

The PCSSUMEA had demanded the Punjab government’s Ministry of Industries to provide a sum of Rs250m for the establishment of a grid station and another Rs100m for installation of gas pipeline infrastructure at WSIE. The association held several meetings with Punjab Minister for Industries Mian Aslam Iqbal and other stakeholders in this regard during the last six months.

Talking to Dawn, Khalid Mughal, a former chairman of the cutlery association, said the government has categorically conveyed to the body that the demand cannot be met under the rules and agreement. “The industrial area had been established as a public-private partnership project. The government helped in land acquisition and other legal formalities whereas the cost of land and infrastructural development of the site is to be borne by the businessmen who were allotted the plots there,” he explained.

“The cutlery industry in Wazirabad is a cottage industry. Most of the small and medium-sized manufacturers would find it hard to bear the cost for the provision of electricity and gas in the industrial area,” Mr Mughal added.

Meanwhile, another official of the PCSSUMEA said that a sum of at least Rs1m might be charged from each plot owner in WSIE whereas around Rs70m were already available for the purpose with the concerned company that had developed the industrial area.

Wazirabad is famous for its cutlery sets and stainless steel utensils in Pakistan and internationally.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2021