FAISALABAD, July 22: Various representatives of trade bodies, exporters, industrialists and growers have termed the increase in power tariff catastrophic and contradictory to the government’s claim of creating environment conducive to investment.

Caustic Soda Manufacturers Association central chairman Muhammad Idrees said the hike in power tariff had put the industrial sector on the verge of closure.

He said this had not been viable to operate industries particularly those where electricity was used not only as a source of power but also as a raw material.

“If the government has no solution to this problem who else will come to its rescue. The country’s economic managers are living in self-deception and contradictions. Although they plead for investment, their policies are depriving the industry of cheap power”, he said.

The industrial sector, he said, was a backbone of the economy and catching up the boom of the western economies could become possible only through industrialization. It was however beyond imagination why Nepra and Wapda were heading towards damaging national causes, he said.

All-Pakistan Cloth Exporters Association chairman Mian Muhammad Latif also criticized the Nepra decision of allowing Wapda to enhance power tariff.

He said all sectors of the economy especially textile had already been facing serious financial crisis due to continuous recession and the recent increase in power rates would push them towards another whirlpool of crisis.

Exporters, he claimed, would not be in a position to fulfil their export orders owing to high cost of electricity and they would not be able to compete with their foreign competitors. This would also lead to large scale unemployment because owners of small industrial units would be left with no option but to shut their factories, he added.

Faisalabad Dry Port Trust chairman Mushtaq Ali Cheema termed the step of Nepra a conspiracy against the national economy conceived by some vested interests.

Industrialists, exporters, hosiery manufacturers, powerloom owners, and even all spheres of national economy were already facing crisis which was in the knowledge of rulers. But, increase of 44 paisa per unit in power tariff was clearly a wrong step in the wrong direction, he lamented.

He apprehended that ill-conceived policies would open new ways for the anti-government forces to create law and order problem in the country.

APCEA founder chairman Jawed Anwar described the recent increase in power tariff as harmful, adding that no one could stop the closure of more industrial units and escalation in unemployment.

The electricity for industrial sector was cheap in almost all developing and under-developed countries especially in the UAE, so that business tycoons could boost the economy of their respective states. But in Pakistan, the trading circle was being ruined by imposing heavy taxes and raising tariffs of electricity and gas, he maintained.

He said the continuous increase in the rates of power and petroleum products would shatter the dream of maximum foreign investment in the country. Pakistan could become a hub of industrial, commercial and economical activities due to its geographical status and resources. But, he said, all previous governments including the present rulers were playing in the hands of international donor agencies.

Anjuman Tajiran Faisalabad president Nawaz Vohra said the Nepra decision was against the interest of the country and business sector. He said there was no justification for the increase keeping in view the government’s claim of receiving huge donations and financial assistance from big powers during the last one year.

All trading sectors had been facing innumerable financial problems for the last one decade due to wrong policies of the previous political rulers.

Office-bearers of the All-Pakistan Cotton Powerlooms Association also termed the increase in power tariff inimical to that important allied sector of the textile industry which was the backbone of the national economy.

Over 60,000 powerlooms had already been closed in Faisalabad and its adjoining areas due to escalation in rates of power and other utilities. The recent increase would force most of owners of cottage industries to close their units, they feared.

Farmers Association Faisalabad president Mian Tahir Saeed said the hike in tariff of electricity would crush the backbone of the farming community as growers had already been purchasing agricultural inputs, pesticides and even power for tubewells at very higher rates.

The government had failed in providing incentives to farmers during its three-year tenure and instead announced a number of policies fatal for the farming sector, he said.

The power, he claimed, was being supplied at cheaper rates to farmers in India to bring about a green revolution. But our rulers were playing in the hands of anti-Pakistan forces and evolving policies destructive for the economy.

The farmers would have no choice but to stop cultivation of all cash crops and look for other trades instead of investing in the agriculture.