KARACHI: Businesses have sought government
help following torrential rains that devastated
trade and commercial centres in the country’s biggest metropolitan and urged to declare the city calamity-hit for repairing infrastructure on an urgent basis.
Representatives of trade and industry
associations said that the monsoon spell ruined
the infrastructure of Karachi, especially the industrial estates and commercial centers of the city, which inflicted immense losses to traders and industrialists.
“It is the responsibility of the federal and
Sindh governments to protect the lives and property of the people of Karachi, as the metropolis contributes immensely to the national exchequer,” the representatives of trade and industry associations said. Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that all business centres and industrial estates of Karachi were inundated after torrential rains lashed the city.
He said that the Sindh government and city administration of Karachi should come into action to fulfill their responsibilities as the business community suffered economically to the tune of billions of rupees.
They claimed that both the provincial government and city administration appeared helpless in the face of the ordeal when the emergency situation rose following torrential rains.
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Senior Vice President Salman Chawlasaid business and commercial sectors were already closed due to more than needed five-day holidays on the occasion of Eidul Azha, and added that resuming business activities on Wednesday, the first working day following holidays would be impossible without government help.
Karachi Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (KCCI) President Muhammad Idris appealed to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to visit Karachi and take stock of the miserable conditions and demanded to declare the city calamity hit.
He said that a city which earned precious foreign exchange for the country has no ownership, and no matter which party took charge of the government, the city remained neglected. Muhammad Idris urged the government to provide compensation and to give the city its needed infrastructure in return of 70 percent contribution in taxes and 54 percent foreign exchange earnings.