The business community in Punjab and the provincial government on Tuesday pledged to work in unison for much cherished economic revival and formed a joint working group to formulate new rules of business for trade and industry in the province.
The affirmation was made at a meeting between the heads of the various provincial departments and Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the province that was held at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Punjab Chambers were represented by their presidents including LCCI President, Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, President Faisalabad Chamber, Muzammil Sultan, President Sialkot CCI, Naeem Anwar Qureshi, President Rawalpindi CCI, Jawed Akhtar Bhatti, Vice President Jhelum CCI, Gul Ahmad, President Jhang CCI, Sheikh Mughees Ammad, President Sahiwal CCI, Waseem Akhtar, SVP Multan Chamber, Kh. Mohammad Hussain, President Sheikhupura CCI, Amjad Nazir Butt, President Women Chamber of Commerce, Kokab Parveen, President Rahim Yar Khan CCI, Muzaffar Saleem Chaudhry and SAARC Vice President, Iftikhar Ali Malik.
Provincial Secretary Industries, Dr Shujaat Ali, Provincial Secretary Law, Dr Syed Abdul Hassan Najmi, Secretary Labour Hassan Iqbal, Vice Chairman PBIT, Dr Miftah Ismael, Additional Secretary Home, Amanullah Niazi and DG Environment Maqsood Ahmad represented the provincial government.
It was also decided that the government departments would not issue notices to the industry and inspectors would be barred from visiting industrial units. The issues raised during this unprecedented three hours long interactive session included boiler inspections by the Industries Department, labour inspections by the Labour Department and issuance of notices by the Environment Department and Social Security.
It was agreed by both the sides that a Joint Working Group comprising MNA Pervaiz Malik, Special Assistant to Chief Minister, Mohammad Ali Mian, Vice Chairman PBIT, Miftah Ismael and representatives of Chambers of Commerce would prepare and finalise a set of new laws to facilitate the industry.
All the provincial secretaries and the government officials attending the meeting assured their full cooperation to the businessmen and said that the there would be no harassment to any industrialist in the province.
On the issue of boiler inspections, the Secretary Industries said that this sort of inspections would be outsourced soon as a new law has already been worked out. He said that after the implementation of new law, the boiler inspections would be carried out by the insurance companies.
On the social security and environment related issues, it was agreed during the meeting that the respective departments would take the respective Chamber of Commerce and Industry on board before taking any decision regarding the issuance of notices to the industry.
Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President, Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the industry is passing through very challenging times and is in dire need of hand-holing by the government therefore all the provincial departments should encourage the businessmen so that the province could get maximum revenue in the shape of taxes. He said that the businessmen are ready to cooperate with all the government departments but if there is no business at all due to an acute energy shortage how they would be able to comply with the government directives. He said that the entire business community is thankful to the Chief Minister Punjab who is making all-out efforts to ensure breathing space to the business doing people.
The SAARC Vice President, Iftikhar Ali Malik suggested that the industrial units or business groups that are facilitating their workers in their own hospitals must be exempted from social security inspections. He said that the exemption would encourage Corporate Social Responsibility in the country.