Traders demo against power outage

SIALKOT, In Sialkot, the hundreds of the local industrialists, traders and industrial workers, today, staged a peaceful agitational demonstration and took out rally against power outages in Sialkot.

The rally began from in front of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and ended at Allama Iqbal Chowk Sialkot after passing through all the main city roads and bazaars in Sialkot. They continued protest for the third consecutive day. The representatives of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and other main trade bodies led the rally. The participants were carrying agitational banners and placards. They also chanted anti government slogans and demanded immediate end of the electricity load shedding in export-oriented Sialkot city for saving the Sialkot Leading exporter Asif Mehmood Soni revealed that the Gepco Sialkot has increased the duration of unscheduled power load sheddingfrom 18 to 20 hours daily in Sialkot, badly hampering the local industrial pace and affecting Sialkot's total industrial production.

He said that the export-oriented industries at the mercy of energy crisis, which was aggregating day by day in Sialkot. Meanwhile, Vice President of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Mirza Qaisar Baig said that there was no let-up and no relief for perturbed business community of Sialkot in energy crisis. He termed this nasty situation as alarming and expressed grave concern over this 40 percent decline in Sialkot exports due to the power and gas outages. He said that this decline could be a great set back for national economy. He urged the federal government to exempt export-oriented Sialkot city from load shedding of electricity to boost the Sialkot industries. The unending load shedding of electricity was badly hampering the industrial pace in Sialkot and affecting the industrial production, as the Sialkot exporters were unable to timely dispatch their ex! port con signments to their foreign buyers due to this critical situation.