SCCI wants govt to allow businesses, commercial activities

PESHAWAR: Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz has asked the provincial government to fulfill its promise made with traders and allow them to open phase-wise business and commercial activities by developing the standard operating procedure.

Addressing a meeting of small traders at the Chamber House here on Wednesday, he said the trader community was faced with enormous financial challenges due to ongoing coronavirus-related lockdown in the province.

He added that coronavirus-hit traders would be unable to bear further economic and business loss amid the prevailing scenario.

The small traders and shopkeepers were facing a host of problems due to closure of bazaars and markets in the aftermath of the precautionary measure taken to contain the spread of the Covid-19, he added.

The SCCI president said that certain industries had been allowed to operate but the small traders were faced with a host of difficulties due to lockdown.

Maqsood Pervaiz called upon the government to take pragmatic steps to give relief to coronavirus-hit business community.

He maintained the traders were not against lockdown but the government should honour its promises made with them and allow opening of bazaars, markets, shopping plazas and business centres under a holistic strategy and SOPs in order to overcome financial issues of small traders. The SCCI chief said that business and commercial activities had adversely affected by ongoing prolonged lockdown, adding that the small industrialists and traders were the worst affected under the prevailing circumstances.

He asked the government to waive taxes, electricity and gas bills of traders and devise a comprehensive economic roadmap to revive the coronavirus-hit economy.