Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has urged the government to ensure smooth supply of natural gas to its member mills so that the factories could continue production.
It also sought immediate intervention by the authorities concerned in this regard as the factories were facing difficulties in running production due to supply of the energy at a very low pressure.
The spinning, weaving and fabric-processing mills particularly located in Madhabkhola, Sripur and Gazipur areas had to suspend production by 75 per cent due to gas supply at very low pressure, BTMA said in a letter to the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd on Wednesday.
The letter expressed concern that the issue is related to exports, workers' earnings and, law and order situation.
Signed by its president Mohammad Ali Khokon, the letter pointed out that the gas pressure in the factories namely Ishraq Spinning Mills Ltd and Mosharraf Composite Mills Ltd went below 5.0 PSI on Wednesday from 15 PSI in the previous night.
"As a result, 75 per cent of their machine remained unused," he said, adding that if the situation further prolongs, factories will have no other choice but to close down.
The mills located in those areas are at the risk of incurring substantial financial losses due to their failure in using full production capacity, he said adding they have been suffering from poor gas supply for a long time.
The association alleged that the factories were getting poor or interrupted gas supply mainly because of the damage of main gas supply pipeline under the Dhanua River in 2018 which has not been repaired properly.
"Textile mills have the state-of-the-art technology but those could use only 40-50 per cent of their machine capacity due to the poor gas supply," Mr. Khokon noted.
The BTMA also expressed concern whether their member-factories would be able to timely pay the wages and festival allowances to the workers if the factories cannot utilise full production capacity ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.
"The law and order situation might also deteriorate," the BTMA letter reads.
