Hardly any industrial activity across Karachi

N H Zuberi

KARACHI: Majority of industrial units in all seven industrial estates of the city remained closed on Friday as transports announced to keep their vehicle off the roads and some of the trade bodies announced to keep business closed after Muttahida

Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced to mourn the death of its MPA Manzar Imam who was gunned down along with his three guards on Thursday.

Industrial workers failed to report for duty as there was no public transport on the roads. Heavy productivity losses were suffered by the industrial sector due to closure of units on Friday.

Absence of labour caused by non-plying of public transport was one of the prime reasons of closure of units while good transporters carriers also remained off the roads.

Upcountry and foreign shipments, processing of shipping documents, local supplies, procurement of raw material from the port etc also came to a standstill.

The industrialists said they were struggling for survival due to acute gas shortage.

The current and last week were full of closure of industries on different pretext and the entire month was a total disaster for industries and export.

The industrialists said the government must take appropriate measure to control killing, and the city, from where 80 percent of exports of various products are made and about 68 percent of the country’s total revenue was generated, should not be left uncontrolled.

Day today closures of the city on one pretext or the other will have serious impact on Pakistan economy, revenue generation, Pak image abroad as well as new investment in projects.

Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati), Zubair Chhaya said that 100 percent units remained closed in this industrial estate on Friday.

He said that non-availability of transport and closure of petrol and CNG pumps were the main cause due to which workers failed to report on duty.

Chairman Site Association of Industry (SAI), Dr Arshad Vohra said that in the Site industrial area almost all units remained closed as workers failed to reach their workplace.

Recent past Chairman North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry, Abdul Rasheed Fodderwala said some units remained operative as some workers living nearby areas turned up but they failed to reach optimum productivity due to non-availability of majority of workers.

He said attendance in industrial units which remained operative was not more than 25 percent.