SITE Association of Industry Chairman Dr Arshad A Vohra on Monday said that the ignorance of the authorities concerned to take cognizance of the prevailing issues being faced by goods transporters has compelled them to go on an indefinite strike that has badly impacted the economic activities of the country.
Last week on Saturday, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Muhammad Haroon Agar had also demanded from the government to intervene in the matter in order to resolve the lingering issue of transporters’ strike that was proving far too weighty for ailing economy.
Vohra said that if the authorities concerned wished for the industries to run, they should take the required measures to resolve the issue before the stakeholders also went on strike.
The SITE chairman said the importers and exporters were facing serious problems in December when a similar strike brought the whole country to a standstill.
He recalled that the 13-day strike in December had caused colossal financial losses to the traders and industrialists.
The haulers’ strike, he warned, would completely halt the export activities besides damaging the industrial manufacturing capacity.
“Textile export orders worth billions of rupees will be lost,” he said warning that huge foreign orders would be cancelled due to the strike. This would not only result in huge losses to the exporters, but would also take a toll on the national exchequer, he added.
If the strike was prolonged any further, this would incur huge losses on the exporters, who feared cancellation of vital orders.
The entire textile chain was facing immense pressure and export activities had come to a halt, he said, adding that the goods transport carriers strike would cease business activities as goods were not reaching the ports.
KCCI president said the detrimental effects of the strike were further damaging the economy that was already breathing hard under massive internal and external challenges.
The country should not undergo another severe disruption in the import and export activities as all business at Karachi’s ports had come to a standstill owing to the strike launched by the transporters in December last year.
He said the transporters’ genuine grievances needed immediate consideration from the government, including instant redressal to call-off their strike and ensure smooth transportation for port activities and supply to upcountry and down-country destinations.
Agar gave these statements while talking to a delegation of United Goods Transporters Alliances, Karachi Goods Carriers Association, Transporters of Goods Association (KPT) represented by Madad Khan Niazi and Muhammad Shoaib Khan along with others. The delegation of Karachi Custom Agents Association led by its President Saifullah Khan also called on him last Saturday to apprise him about their problems.
