Businesses reject Sindh emergency relief ordinance

KARACHI: Businesses on Friday miffed at a proposed emergency relief ordinance by the Sindh government envisaging to passing the onus of payrolls entirely on them without considering their financial straits in the wake of almost three weeks of coronavirus-led economic shutdown.

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Agha Shahab Ahmed and Businessmen Group Chairman Siraj Kassam Teli, in a joint statement, said the draft of Sindh COVID-19 emergency relief ordinance is not acceptable and urged the provincial chief minister Murad Ali Shah to take the business and industrial community into confidence prior to implement any such law.

The ordinance is to legally bind employers in the province not to retrench or terminate services of any employees during the shutdown of business units due to the lockdown. Employees would be considered as on paid leaves under the proposed law.

Businessmen said they are not willing to expel workforce but they have been facing severe liquidity crunch due to suspension of business activities and finding it hard to bear salaries payable for the idle workers when no revenue is generated. “The government will have to come forward to share the burden,” the statement said.

Businesses, which are already providing cash and food to the needy on humanitarian grounds, somehow sustained the entire burden of wages and salaries payable for March but they said they would not be able to do so next month when salaries for April become due.

“A special relief package has to be announced and made part of the ordinance in which either the entire cost of salaries/wages has to be borne by the government or a mechanism has to be adopted for a period of at least two to three months in which the aggregate amount of salaries payable by businesses and industries should be fragmented into three equal portions,” the statement said. “The first portion should be paid by the relevant industrialists and second portion must be contributed by the government while the last portion has to be borne by employees.”

Businessmen said the special relief package is the need of the hour and would certainly enable the private sector to deal with the extraordinary situation, bear extra losses, avoid lay-offs and rescue many industrial units from becoming sick or bankrupt.

The proposed ordinance says the government may provide exemption from taxes, duties, fees, cess, levies, and charges in a manner as notified by the government. But, the relief ordinance must guarantee that the Sindh Revenue Board will be barred from collecting all types of taxes for a period of at least six months. Funds being collected by Employees Old Age Benefit Institution and Sindh Employees Social Security Institution for registered workers could be utilised to support the workers who are already registered with them, the businessmen said.

“What will be happening to those small traders and shopkeepers who hardly have two to three workers employed and how could they pay salaries to workers when all such shops and businesses remain completely closed,” the statement said. “We haven’t heard much about any relief to these shopkeepers and traders – which is really worrisome and requires equal attention.”

The business representatives said business and industrial community supports all the initiatives taken by the government to contain spread of the novel coronavirus and provide relief to public. But, the government would also have to extend a helping hand to business and industrial community to reduce their burden and help them survive the ongoing extraordinary situation.