LAHORE - Members of the All Pakistan Texile Mills Association during a meeting have urged the body to undertake the planned closure of mills to lodge protest against the power loadshedding and gas supply disconnection. They urged the meeting to start a series of protests demonstrations across the country. They said that bank loans were not serviceable. So Aptma must collectively decide to stop payment to the banks. They demanded that MDI of Wapda for Dec 2008 and Jan 2009 must be waived off as Wapda has totally failed in its responsibility to provide smooth power supply. They told the meeting that payment of SNGPL bills must be stayed for 90 days. The members during the meeting unanimously resolved to mandate the chairman to settle these issues with the government on war footing, otherwise, the chairman was bound to call for closure of industry. During an Extraordinary General Meeting, overwhelming number of participants urged the Chairman, Tariq Mehmood, to call for immediate closure of mills. There was heated discussion on the textile industry situation in the context of serious issues being faced by the industry. Meanwhile, APTMA spokesman has expressed apprehension on the long-term consequences of electricity and gas loadshedding on industry, particularly textiles production and resultant fall in exports. He expressed anger at the priority being given to non-productive sectors that had a very high opportunity cost in terms of lost economic opportunity.