Traders, fishermen see no practical measures in upcoming budget

Fishermen and traders don't see that any practical measures would be taken in 2011-12 budget for boosting trade and infrastructure development. They feared surge in inflation and unemployment with the worsening energy crisis. Talking to Business Recorder on the eve of budget announcement, President All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, Muhammad Atiq Mir said that it was expected the government would continue relying on heavy bank borrowing to run its affairs in the next fiscal year.
He said the government had no practical plan, which it could envisage for the next fiscal year and apprehended the rulers would continue holding the "begging bowl" in their hands and would go to the IMF and other lending countries to secure finances to temporarily underpin the fragile economy.
He urged the government to work out new plans for solving energy crisis and restoring of law and order in the country, as both had badly shaken the small and medium sized trade. Atiq Mir said that the small traders had not strong expectations from the government to deliver in the budget something better for the traders and citizens.
He said the budget presentation in Pakistan was not less than a figure puzzle, trapping the traders with alluring statements and long speeches by the finance minister in the national assembly. "The rulers believe corruption is better than the correction," he added.
He said the government should ensure low cost healthcare facilities and education to the poor citizens of the country and make plans to arrest the soaring food inflation and control the fuel price hike. He said the rulers should abandon luxurious life style with complete cut in non-developmental expenditures to spare finances for the public development projects. He said the government should also announce new energy generation projects in the budget. "The government should focus on education, health and energy secotr with plans to reduce inflation and fuel cost to benefit the trade and manufacturing sector to grow, besides paving way for new jobs and fresh local investment in different sector," Mir added.
He said the government should also make plans to clamp down on the gangs and criminals in the city. He demanded that special funds should be allocated in the budget for capacity building of police and imparting training in counter-terrorism and equipping the force with latest equipments.
President of Bona Fide Fishermen and Boat Owners Welfare Organisation, Asif Bhatti said the government should allocate special funds for the development of the fishermen community, who earned million of foreign exchange for the country annually.
He said the government should reduce fuel cost for the fishermen to run their boats to catch seafood in a greater amount. He said the seafarers' community had nothing to do with the budgets, as the budget was always meant for the upper class and big industrial elite groups and not for the poor. Bhatti said that they had no hope that the budget would bring any relief to the fishermen.