Karachi traders irked as deadline to resume businesses expires

KARACHI: Karachi traders have summoned an emergency meeting on Wednesday after their deadline to the Sindh government to resume businesses in the metropolis expired on Tuesday, ARY NEWS reported.

The Sindh government asked the traders to wait for Tuesday before they finalise the SOPs needed to resume businesses.

“We will finalize the next move if any hindrance from the government is created in refraining us from opening our shops,” said President Sindh Tajir Ittehad Jameel Paracha.

He said that they had to stop paying power dues and expel their employees to overcome the financial constraints faced due to coronavirus lockdown.

Paracha said that the provincial ministers Saeed Ghani and Nasir Hussain Shah were not responding to their phone calls.

All City Tajir Ittehad President Sharjeel Goplani said that they had developed a plan to resume businesses in the city after consultation with the Sindh government.

He, however, said that the government committee sought time upto Tuesday to announce phase-wise opening of the shops.

On April 18, soon after meeting a provincial government delegation, the leaders from trade organisations said that business activities would resume in the city in a limited manner from next week during coronavirus lockdown.

Talking to media, they said that the government’s team has agreed over resuming business in the city and shops of different sectors will operate on separate days.

“We were also offered relaxation in taxes, however, we deferred discussion on the matter as initially it is important to resume the business activities in the city,” they said.