ISLAMABAD: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) is going ahead with its planned suspension of gas supply to CNG filling stations and industries in Punjab from Nov 15 this year to March 15, 2015.
The strategy has been devised under the government’s load-management plan to ensure smooth gas supply to domestic and commercial consumers. The plan likely to affect 2,000 CNG filling stations and hundreds of industrialists, giving rise to the fears of unemployment of thousands of factory workers.
On the other hand, the All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA) has rejected the SNGPL’s plan and said that it would increase miseries of millions of people across Punjab. According to the SNGPL plan, supply of CNG will remain suspend in Punjab from Nov 15 to March 15, 2015. However, the supply will continue in other provinces as usual. Meanwhile, the authorities said that CNG filling stations will remain open in Punjab on Thursday for 12 hours.
Meanwhile, textile sector associations have threatened a massive protest campaign and sit-ins from Nov 15, if the proposed plan to suspend gas supply to industry in Punjab is not reversed soon.
The decision was taken in a meeting attended by office-bearers of Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA), Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMEA), All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA), All Pakistan Bedsheets and Upholstery Manufacturers Association (APBUMA), All Pakistan Textile Sizing Association (APTSA) and Loom Owners Association.
