PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) has announced to observe strike on Dec 4 against the surge in gas price.Following a meeting here on Thursday, KPTMA chairman Mohammad Kamran Shah announced the strike for Dec 4.

During the meeting, KPTMA members expressed serious concern about the drastic escalation in gas rates, stating that it was making industrial operations financially unviable. They said that the difficulty in sustaining businesses under such high costs was compelling them to consider shutting down their operations.

The KPTMA members highlighted that industries in KP had since long been facing various challenges, including significantly higher transportation costs due to their distance between the seaports and primary markets for sourcing raw materials. The shortage of skilled labour within KP had compelled industries to source technical expertise from other regions, incurring substantial additional expenses, they said.

The escalated cost of production had severely hampered their competitiveness, both in local and global markets, the KPTMA members said. This concerning situation coupled with inflated production costs had the potential to escalate consumer prices for essential commodities, imposing an undue burden on the general public.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2023