Karachi, February 07, 2022 (PPI-OT):Labour leaders in a joint statement here Saturday said that closure of gas to industry is virtually a suicide attack on production process and the jobs and livelihood of workers, demanding of the federal government to ensure unintended supply of gas to industry.
National Labour Council convener Karamat Ali, National Trade Unions Federation (NTUF) general secretary Nasir Mansoor, People’s Labour Bureau (PLB) Sindh president Habibuddin Junaidi, Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) general secretary Comrade Zahra Akbar Khan, SITE Labour Forum secretary Riaz Abbasi and Workers Rights Movement leader Comrade Gul Rehman in a joint statement said that when the country is passing through a critical phase and more than then million workers have already been rendered fully or partially jobless, depriving the country, especially its industrial hub Karachi, of gas supply is causing a massive joblessness.
They said that on one hand the federal government is making false claims on so-called industrial and economic growth, and on the other hand it is working on its agenda of anti- production and anti-labour steps to jam the wheel of industrial production. They said that Karachi which is the center of industrial production and export of industrial sector is virtually in an ICU due to non-availability of gas to industry.
They said that many industrial units especially those belonging to textile and garments are compelled to use oil and gas as an alternate of gas that is sharply increasing their production cost. Due to this factor, these industrial units are curtailing and limiting their production, resulting in a huge retrenchment of workers.
The labour leaders said that it is more worrisome that the federal government is not giving the provinces their due share of gas and other resources. They said that injustice in the distribution of natural resources is not only a violation of the constitution but also an attack on the very foundations of the federation, whose one example is not giving the gas produced from Sindh to the industry of the Sindh province.
They said that the half of the national exports and resultant earing of foreign exchange reserves is linked to the industrial production process of Karachi and the suspension of gas supply to industrial sector of the port city is affecting this process and creating a dangerous crisis that would give birth to reduction in foreign exchange, increase in joblessness and deepening of the ongoing socioeconomic turmoil.
They warned the federal government and industrialists that this crisis is increasing unrest amongst the workers and if it was not immediately addressed the labour organisations would launch a strong protest. They demanded that a proper supply of gas to industry should be ensured at all costs.
For more information, contact:
Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF)
726, Mashrique Centre, Block 14, Gulshan-e-Iqbal,
Karachi, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-37075324
Website: https://hbwwf.org/