EFP seeks to save stationery sector

KARACHI: Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP) President Ismail Suttar has recommended Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood to look into the near-extinct state of the stationary industry due to the prolonged closure of schools and other educational institutions due to Covid, a statement said on Saturday.

Ahsan Ullah Khan, director of EFP and a senior industrialist, who has been manufacturing ball-pens, gel pens, markers, fiber-tip pens, pointers and pencils for use in educational institutes, says the situation is very desperate.

The business is at a standstill, and no revenue is being generated to manage wages, any more.

Khan demanded the government to release all outstanding sales and income tax refunds. Grant should be given to companies for next nine months, based on the last year’s audited accounts for support in paying salaries, he added. All payments to social security and EOBI obligations should be waived along with one-year tax relief, capping markup at 5 percent and subsidising electricity and gas charges by 50 percent for the stationery industry.

Suttar pays homage to all the patriotic industrialists associated with the stationary sector for striding along despite the visibly painful hardships.