The textile processing houses in Surat are facing a crisis. The industry has to keep its dyeing and printing units closed and this had affected production and led to a loss for the industry.

On Monday morning, more than 300 SGTPA members gathered outside the GGCL office at Adajan in Rander and staged dharnas over the irregular gas supply. They handed over a memorandum to the GGCL general manager, demanding effective measures to overcome the problem.

SGTPA president Pramod Choudhary said: “We made representations to the petroleum and gas ministry at the Centre and they clearly told us that they have provided enough gas to GGCL and also instructed GGCL to ensure that gas is properly supplied to the small industries. We have found that GGCL officials are violating the Centre’s directives and are supplying gas to the nearly five large industries.”

Choudhary said that at the time of signing the new General Sales Agreement at the individual level, they were assured that the shortage in gas supply will be overcome with additional resources like LNG or spot buying from GAIL.

Every year, there is a shortage of 20 per cent gas in our textile processing industry, and they are again cutting it by 15 to 20 per cent. This affects the production and even our goods get damaged and we have to suffer a great loss, he added.