All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Punjab Chairman Aamir Fayyaz stated on Monday that around 450 units of spinning, weaving and processing were being supplied gas just for four hours a day, which now has been halted completely.

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has suspended gas supply to Punjab’s textile mills indefinitely, the factory owners association said.

At least seventy mills have already closed down due to gas and electricity outages, he said. Besides heavy amounts that the government pockets under electricity charges, unnecessary taxes have added to owners’ woes.

Hundred textile mills of Punjab have written to the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) to close their units if the federal government fails to address non-viability of the industry and restore its competitiveness.

He added that both gas closure and decline in cotton arrival would have dire consequences on the operations of basic textile industry, which is already suffering due to the high cost of doing business.

Fayyaz said that millers did not demand any subsidy, but only withdrawal of the unjust surcharge on power tariff “to deny the industry the benefit of low power cost” due to decline in furnace oil rates.

He further said that the current situation, if prevails could only lead to closure of industries across the board. He said that decision would be formally announced in the coming week.