Lockdown in Sindh: Government to give relief to some export-oriented industries: Teli

The Chairman of the Businessmen Group and a former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Siraj Kassam Teli, has said that a mechanism has been decided between the industries, the chief minister of Sindh, the secretary of industries/chief secretary under which it has been agreed in principle that the lockdown in the province will be strictly adhered to by all the industries, and permission will only be granted to specific industries only.
Referring to his meeting with the Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, at the CM House on Monday, he warmly welcomed all-out efforts being made by the chief minister to contain the spread of coronavirus and said that the entire business and industrial community fully supported the Sindh government's lockdown strategy which was really crucial and the need of the hour as nothing was more important than saving lives of the people from the life-threatening disease caused by the coronavirus.
The Chief Minister of Sindh and the chairman of BMG extensively discussed the notification issued, and it was agreed that a more refined clarification would be issued by the secretary of industries which would provide relief to specific export-oriented industries on a case-to-case basis and also to some other food & beverages industries manufacturing essential food items, water, milk, flour, rice and sugar etc so that they could keep on running their businesses, and no shortage of any of these products occurred at any stage during the lockdown and the prices of all these commodities remained under control as well.
Siraj Teli, during a meeting at the Governor's House also on Monday arranged by the Governor of Sindh, Imran Ismail, to discuss the economic situation with Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Adviser for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and Advisor for Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain through a video link, thoroughly briefed the advisers about the problems being faced by the trade and industry after the outbreak of the coronavirus and the federal government was urged to come up with some extraordinary relief measures to ensure the wheels of the industry kept on turning without any interruption with a view to securing jobs of the workers.
He further requested Hafeez Shaikh and Abdul Razak Dawood to convey a message to Prime Minister Imran Khan that the business and industrial community of Karachi was going through a very difficult situation and desperately required relief which had to be given in the shape of 50 percent reduction in interest rates, electricity rates, gas rates, sales tax, federal excise duties and other levies and taxes, besides reversing the Industrial Support Package Adjustment (ISPA) which was being requested in a very odd situation when the industrial production had gone down to around 25 to 30 percent.
"The funds saved from this relief will certainly be utilized on providing foodstuff and rations to the poor labor force and daily wage earners who are in terrible crises as they remain confined to their homes," he added.
Siraj Teli appealed to all the industrialists of Karachi to make sure that all their workers and daily-wage earners got their salaries earlier and they also received ration and food items as nothing was important than the lives of the poor masses and we have to take good care of them.
He hoped that the prime minister would adopt some extraordinary measures in providing relief to all the industries in the larger interest of the country.
Meanwhile, the CEO of K-Electric, Syed Moonis Abdullah Alvi, called on Siraj Teli at his residence on Monday to discuss the ISPA and following points were decided: KE will defer the ISPA arrears amount till 30th April 2020. The amount will be paid by industry to the KE if they are unable to get it reversed directly from the federal government; current bill of March 2020 will be paid without ISPA arrears and late payment surcharge will be payable before 31st March 2020; all industries are asked to pay bills to K-Electric so as to ensure sustainability of power sector; and all consumers who have already paid ISPA arrears will get adjustment if the federal government decides to reverse the same by 30th April 2020.