The apparel industry criticized Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) for excessive billing. Increased rates of water and other energy resources will have adverse effects on exports and lead to a major crisis in the textile industry.
At a recent meeting of industrial representatives, Sunder Industrial Estate Garment City Director Adeeb Iqbal advised the Punjab government to immediately issue directives and stop officials of the Environment Department from harassing businessmen. He said, “aquifer charges of Rs100,000 per month, imposed on the industries extracting water through tube wells of one-cusec capacity, were exorbitant and should be rationalized.”
“At a time when the industry is in trouble due to high input costs, falling competitiveness in the international market and various other challenges, fixing water charges will give birth to further challenges to the industrial sector,” he remarked.”, he added.
He also emphasized WASA to review its decision of fixing water charges on a monthly basis for the industrial sector.
