Govt asked to restore sick industrial units

TAKHT BHAI: Leaders of several trader unions on Saturday asked the government to restore sick industrial units and give concessions on the sales tax and excise duty for the growth of industries and the welfare of labourers in the province.

A meeting to this effect was held, with traders union president Liaqat Bacha in the chair. The union’s provincial general secretary Muhammad Nabi Khan, Pakistan Tobacco president Sartaj Khan, Frontier Sugar Mills president Muhammad Zaman Khan, Swat Silk and Cosmetics president Abdul Wadood Khan, Shama Ghee president Imdad Khan, Colony Textile Mills president Ajmali Khan, Rehman Feroz Sons president Aqal Badshah, Cotton Mills president Adam Khan, Mardan Sugar Mills general secretary Amjad Khan and central information secretary Muslim Sabir attended the event.

Speaking on the occasion, they said that the industrial sector, especially sugar, ghee, cigarette, cement and medicines, had been facing severe crisis due to rise in the electricity and gas tariffs and taxes. They said that hundreds of labourers would be rendered jobless and the government would be deprived of millions of rupees’ revenues if it did not concentrate on the restoration of the sick industries. They said that a large number of industries had already been shut in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that none of the previous governments had ever bothered to develop the industrial sector, terming the province as a ‘grave’ for the industries. They asked the government to give the labour colonies to the labourers on ownership rights like what had been done in other provinces. They said the restoration of sick industries would create job opportunities for the jobless youths in the province. —Correspondent