PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Textile Mills Association (KPTMA) chairman Saleem Saifullah Khan has demanded deferring the payment of utility bills for March and April and allowing the industrialists to pay the bills in instalments.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he expressed the hope that deferment of the utility bills would help the industry come out of the impacts of coronavirus.

He said the demand had also been presented to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan, Adviser to PM on Finance, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Pesco chief executive officer and SNGPL general manager.

He said the KPTMA was one of the premier trade and industry organisations of KP playing pivotal role in the economic development through exports of textile products.

He said the mills had closed down the operations on the instructions of the provincial labour department to control spread of coronavirus.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020