Setting aside coronavirus steps, APPLA announces to open markets

MULTAN: All Pakistan Power Looms Association (APPLA) Wednesday announced opening of markets and shops by setting aside coronavirus social distancing measures.

Talking to The News, APPLA central president Khaliq Qandil Ansari said coronavirus lockdown had affected the cottage industry badly, leaving hundreds of thousands of daily wagers jobless. He said the workers have finished their stocked food.

Ansari said: “Our workers are demanding food as they are without money due to closure of shops. He said the whole sector has collapsed and the Multan Electric Power Company was serving them detection bills against closed units. The partial lockdown exercise is falling in practice to achieve desired results. On the other hand, it is destroying daily wagers to earn their livelihood, he said. The government has already overburdened the powerloom sector with additional taxes, which chilled the entire sector to create a favorable business environment, he said. The continuous hike in electricity tariff is another factor killing the loom industry. When loomers shifted their pressing units upon gas, the government had increased prices of gas, he continued. Many daily wage workers are forced to buy flour and other basic groceries on credit. They pay shopkeepers when they get money, and many have had to sell their belongings to keep afloat.