Govt urged to withdraw tax on industrial units

BARA: The owners of the industrial units in tribal districts on Sunday urged the government to withdraw the taxes forthwith or else they would launch a protest drive.

Speaking to reporters, All Industrial Units Association President Muhammad Aslam Afridi and others said that thousands of workers and labourers had become jobless owing to the taxes imposed by the government.

They said the poor labourers were deprived of earning a livelihood for their families after the closure of the units in the tribal districts.

“The closure of industrial units has also affected the markets, dealers in raw materials and shops,” Aslam Afridi added.

They said the owners were facing losses of millions of rupees due to the closure of the manufacturing units.

Holding the federal government responsible for the losses, they said that besides the federal excise duty there were three kinds of taxes levied on them.

They said the owners were forced to shut down their units which have rendered 30,000 labourers jobless.

The industrialists added that about 70 percent workforce was local while 30 percent labourers had come from Punjab and other parts of the country.“Actually these labourers are the ones who were affected during militancy as the industrial units were completely closed then,” Aslam Afridi said. “We would move the court of law to make the government withdraw the taxes,” he added.