Unscheduled power outages slammed

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has warned of massive lay-offs and industrial closures if unscheduled load shedding is not stopped immediately in Lahore Township Industrial area by the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO).
LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz was talking to a delegation of Lahore Township Industrial Association (LTIA) at the LCCI on Monday. He warned that LESCO authorities would not be able to control the situation triggered by the demonstrations and strikes by angry industrial workers against their retrenchments as a result of power outages.
The LCCI president said that the industry needs continuous supply of electricity to keep the units operational and to complete the export orders well within the given timeframe. He said that Pakistan had already lost a number of international markets and the new longer power cuts would further aggravate the situation.
He also feared a surge in street crimes, saying that law and order situation is bound to aggravate in the coming days as repeated power outages in the industrial estates is jacking up the graph of unemployment, particularly among daily wagers.