Business activities in the five industrial sectors of the city were badly affected by the unrest as majority of workers failed to report on duty because of the lack of pubic transports on the roads. Karachi on Friday mourned the death of ANP leader Yousufzai and his co-worker Saleem who were killed by unidentified gunmen on Thursday.
Following the incident, widespread violence broke out in the city in which another 13 people were killed and over 100 injured. The after effects of the violence were felt on Friday as the commuters faced problems in reaching their workplaces.
Site and Landhi industrial areas were the most affected as majority of workers failed to report for duty. However some of the industrialists, anticipating the commuting problems on Friday, asked their second shift of workers to stay back at the workplaces on Thursday, and this way their units remained operative the other day as well.
Chairman Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBAATI) Shahid Ismail said 20 to 25 percent workers failed to report on duty because of the lack of transports as well as the fear of violence. He said 100 percent exports shipment came to a stand still due to the non-availability of containers. Transportation of raw material from ports and upcountry to the industrial units remained paralysed because of the non-availability of trucks and trawlers.
Chairman Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Razzak Paracha said there was no impact of the unrest on the industrial units in the Korangi area as majority of workers lives in the vicinity and were able to report for work. He also said most of these workers do not use any transport to commute as they walk up to their workplaces.
Paracha was oblivious of any impact on shipment of export goods from units to the ports. Industrialists of Site and Landhi said majority of industrial units in these sectors remained closed because of the lack of public transport on the roads. They also said those industrial units, which remained operative, worked with a reduced staff. Only those units operated which either has their own transport service or have an advantage of workers living in the vicinity, they added.
Chairman Site Association of Industry (SAI) Saleem Parikh could not be reached to comment on the issue, as his mobile phone was powered off. There are around 3000 industrial units in the Site industrial area and one-day's closure causes around Rs 1 billion production losses; beside, a Rs 200 million revenue loss to the government.
There are more than 2,500 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the North Karachi Industrial sector and about 90 per cent of them are export-oriented units. Major units are: textile, leathers, flour mills, pharmaceuticals, foods and beverages, light engineering, soap, dyeing & bleaching, chemicals, marbles, matches, pottery, printing etc. This industrial sector pays taxes of Rs 9 billion per annum.
Reacting to the persisting unstable condition of Karachi, industrialists said the city, which generates about 65 percent of country's total revenue, is fast becoming a 'no-business and no-trade city', as there is no protection to the lives and properties.They also said a day's closure of industrial units in Karachi causes around Rs 2.5 billion losses.
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