SIALKOT: The prolonged and aggregating energy crisis is resulting into a great decline in local industrial revenue of Gujranwala, which could be a great setback for the local and national economy.
Earlier, the industries of Gujranwala had been depositing a big revenue worth of Rs 40 billion annually to the government, but now this revenue has dropped to a great extant to the tune of only Rs 15 billion showing Rs.25 billion major decline in this industrial revenue and the local industrialists have termed the aggregating energy crisis as major reason behind this decline as well.
According to the concerned officials , as many as 21,000 cottage ,small and medium industrial units have become on the verge of collapse due to prolonged prevailing energy crisis in Gujranwala, including 15000 cottage industry units and 6000 small and medium industrial units.
Local perturbed traders, industrialists and exporters of Gujranwala were of the view that they had been exporting different fine quality export products including tiles, cutlery , Basmati Rice, rice processing plants, surgical instruments , aluminum pots, ceramics, textile, light engineering , plastic furniture , home appliances and sanitary wares to the different foreign destinations including Saudi Arabia, Spain, Europe, Africa, Iran and Italy for the last several years, but the unending load shedding of gas and electricity had badly hampered the industrial production in Gujranwala due to which several local industries had already been closed. They said as many as 200 ceramics have been suffering from great financial loss of millions of rupees every month due to energy crisis.
During the last fiscal years, the total exports of ceramics, leather, shoes, textile, Basmati Rice, pots and home appliances from Gujranwala to abroad were Rs.45 billion, which had now reduced to almost 50 percent. The local traders, industrialists and exporters of Gujranwala have given an SOS call to the government, urging federal government, especially Gujranwala-based Engineer Khurram Dastgir (Federal Minister for Commerce) to make some effective measures to curb the menace of energy crisis for saving the Gujranwala industries from collapsing and ruining, in this regard.
