Township industry warns of protest against outages

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

THE Lahore Township Industrial Area has threatened to launch a series of protests against massive loadshedding.

In a joint press statement issued here Wednesday, Lahore Township Industries Association (LTIA) Chairman Haroon Shafiq Chaudhry, Senior Vice Chairman Iftikhar Bashir, former Chairman Tahir Javed Malik and Iqbal Baig Chughtai said that there was no production in almost all the industrial area and a large number of industrialists were planning to close down their industrial units as they were unable to pay the salaries to their workers.

They said that it was unfortunate that despite an agreement between the Lahore Electric Supply Company and the industrialists of Lahore Townsip Industrial Area, the Lesco authorities were carrying out repeated power loadshedding, putting the entire industry in deep trouble.

They said that if immediate measures were not taken to ensure continuous supply of electricity to the industrial units, nothing could stop the industrial units from halt, leading to massive layoffs. They said it would affect exports and increase unemployment in the country. They have appealed to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to look into the matter and ensure supply of power and gas to the industrial units on priority basis.