Badami Bagh traders to observe shutter-down strike today

The President of Anjuman Tajran Auto Parts, Badami Bagh, Waqar Ahmad, in a press conference here on Sunday warned the Punjab Government that due to its discriminatory policies and non-acceptance of their demands, 3000 shopkeepers would observe shutter-down strike on July 9, 2007.
He averred that traders of the area were paying billions of rupees to the government in the form of income tax, wealth tax, property tax, and withholding tax, but they were being deprived of fundamental rights like proper sewerage system, illegal entry fee for transporters, and proper roads.
He demanded that the government should immediately construct roads of Badami Bagh Auto Parts Market for convenience of the customers coming from far-flung areas of Pakistan and from foreign countries. "It is the biggest Auto Parts Market of Asia', he claimed.
He also demanded that the Rs 40 per turn Adda Fee (entry fee) for light transport vehicles, donkey carts, and push carts should be written off because it is an extra financial burden on the traders, who are already paying more taxes in many forms to the government.
"Most of the shopkeepers have their godowns on the other side of the Bus stand, and they have to make use of pickup for transportation of spare parts. The traders are bound to pay Rs 40 per turn to the contractor appointed by the Bus Stand Administration."
He said that complaints had been submitted to the concerned authorities repeatedly to write off the illegal entry fee. Unfortunately no attention was paid in this regard by the competent authorities, he pointed out.
He said that improper sewerage system was another problem faced by traders of the Badami Bagh Market. "Because of this people are suffering from various sort of diseases of throat, eyes, and respiratory including large number of mosquitoes in the ponds, often found in this locality are another mess to deal with," he added.
Lamenting attitude of WASA, he said that the department had also adopted discriminatory policy towards the traders. He observed that due the grave negligence of Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO), electric polls are hanging in the air and main supply lines pose severe threat to the pedestrians as well as to the business community.
He said with regard to their acute problems, traders had complained many a time to the Chief Executive Officer of Lesco Akram Arian, but unfortunately, the man at the helm of affairs at Lesco took no action for the redress of the traders, he added.