FCCI chief for declaring industrial units' closure 'national crime'

Closure of industrial units must be declared a "National Crime" as it is tantamount to retard national growth in addition to further intensifying unemployment within the country, said Rana Sikandar-e-Azam Khan President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI).

Addressing a meeting of industrialists belonging to SME sector in FCCI here today, he said that government's current approach to tackle the smog problem is retrogressive, unilateral and unrealistic.

He said that automobiles plying in every nook and corner of the country are the major source of carbon emission which is main threat to the environment and also playing havoc with the human health. He said that the local environmental agency has arbitrarily closed 22 industrial units which were not only contributing their role in the overall economy of Pakistan but were also providing livelihood to the thousands of families.

He further said that government must discuss and evolved alternative measures to control industrial pollution instead of closing them down with a single stroke of pen.

He told that in most of under developed countries, the closure of industries have already been declared a "Major Crime" as they have not yet attained high level of efficiency and developed their own standards like highly developed European countries.

He claimed that during early era of industrial revolution, the west had played a destructive role in fomenting pollution, damaging ozone layer and catalyzing ecological blunders.

"These countries have gained economic prosperity at the cost of environment pollution and now they have enough money to correct their own historic and globally acknowledged errors", he added.

Continuing, president FCCI clarified that most of export oriented units have already following the guidelines of Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

"They could not export their products to EU or other developed countries without complying with the environment related standards, protocols and agreements", he said and added that Pakistani government should take lenient view of this situation and categorically announce that industry is its top priority as the revival of economy is solely depends on surplus production for exporters.

However, the SME sector is handicapped and unable to spend funds to meet the heavy expenses on controlling pollution. He demanded that government as well as administration must give SME sector a breathing space so that they could become financially viable and spent some money on measures taken to control the environmental pollution.

He made it clear that closure of industry will also be detrimental to government's interests as it will directly hit the exports in addition to depriving people from their bread and butter.