ISLAMABAD – Thirty-three franchised stores located in six districts have defaulted on Rs 9.2 million payments to the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) of Pakistan.
A source in the USC said that out of the 33 defaulter franchises, 19 are located in Multan, the home district of Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani. Together they owe Rs 2.3 million to the USC.
Nine franchised stores are located in Rahim Yar Khan, two in Khanewal, and one each in Haripur, Sialkot and Sheikhupura. Multan region has 154 franchised stores, the largest number of stores out of the total 5,700 across Pakistan.
The government had withdrawn last year a Rs1 billion monthly subsidy on various kitchen items sold through USC due to the financial crunch.
