LAHORE: Thousands of people, including industrialists, labour leaders and industrial workers blocked the GT Road at Shahdara Chowk on Tuesday to protest the three-day suspension of gas supply to industrial units and warned the government of more protests in all cities of the province if the decision to suspend gas supply was not withdrawn immediately.

The protesters, carrying banners inscribed with slogans against the government and the SNGPL authorities, demanded the government to revise its “anti-industry and anti-people policies” otherwise they would be forced to take the streets.

The protesters burnt tyres and blocked GT Road for two hours creating problems for the traffic and commuters. Vehicles were stuck in the traffic mess on a day when CNG was also not available in the city compounding citizens’ problems.

Activists of nine associations, including Lahore and Sheikhupura chambers of commerce and industry, Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front, All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association, Ferozepur Road Industrial Association, Hosiery Manufacturers Association, Lahore Township Industrial Association, Shahdara Industrial Association and Kahna Kacha Industrial Association took part in the protest.

The protest, that continued for three hours, was jointly led by LCCI Senior Vice President Sheikh Mohammad Arshad, LCCI Vice President Sohail Azhar, LCCI former presidents Mian Anjum Nisar, Shahid Hassan Sheikh, Mohammad Ali Mian, SCCI President Tariq Iqbal Mughal SCCI Vice President Sheikh Naveed Anwar, SCCI Former President Manzoor Malik All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association Central Chairman Maqsood Butt, PIAF Vice Chairman Khawaja Shahzeb Akram, Shahzad Azam Khan of Hosiery Manufacturers Association, Khawaja Shahzad Nasir, Haroon Shafiq Chaudhry, Nasrullah Mughal, Syed Mehmood Ghaznavi and Fahimur Rehman.

Addressing the protesters, the industry leaders said that the gas suspension plan was a well thought-out conspiracy against the government and the people sitting at the helm of affairs must take notice of it. They said that the entire industry and the industrial workers had been pushed to the wall.

“It is not the industry alone that is suffering badly but it is the entire economy that is facing unprecedented challenges.”

They said that the government was committing ‘economic massacre’ of the industrial workers by turning the province into a trading place instead of a manufacturing hub.

“The government is creating the future defaulters as nobody would be able to pay his banking dues when his industrial unit would be on the verge of closure,” they said.

They appealed to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to look into the matter and save hundreds and thousands of industrial workers from losing their jobs.