Daily wage workers took a sigh of relief on Thursday as five industrial estates of the city resumed normal operations after remaining paralysed for a day on Wednesday. Pubic transport also started playing on roads and petrol pumps were opened in the city.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had declared to observe Wednesday as a day of mourning against the killings of innocent people in Shershah on Tuesday. Taking to Business Recorder, workers of industrial units in F B area said that they lost their day's earning due to closure of industrial units. We already have a very limited income, which is hardly sufficient to meet our daily expenses and these frequent market closures have added to our miseries, they added.
Mohammad Ali, a daily wage worker urged the government and political parties to jointly take appropriate measures to control law and order in the city so that their earning is not affected. Industrialists said that daily wage workers are worst hit in case industries remain closed.
The F B Area has over 2,000 industrial units in which 150,000 to 200,000 people are working on daily wages, contract and permanent basis. There are around 3,000 industrial units in Site Industrial Area and more than 250,000 to 350,000 people are working there. There are more than 2,500 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) operating in North Karachi Industrial estate. About 90 percent of them are export-oriented units and around 150,000 to 200,000 people are working there.