KCCI for allowing businesses to operate at full capacity.

KARACHI -- Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Siraj Kassam Teli and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, while strongly rejecting the extension in lockdown up to July 15, urged the Sindh Government to immediately revoke the relevant notification and allow all types of businesses to operate at full capacity which is the only way to save the economy and the businesses from total collapse.

In a statement issued, Chairman BMG Siraj Kassam Teli stated that various businesses including restaurants, hotels, marriage halls, beauty parlors, cinema houses, business centers, sports facilities, and educational institutes etc. have remained completely closed since last four consecutive months that has resulted in plunging all these businesses on the verge of complete collapse. 'These businesses are already going through terrible crises and further extension in the lockdown would wipe them out forever that would lead to further intensifying the hardships not only for the business community but also for the already ailing economy, besides triggering massive unemployment which would prove more dangerous than the coronavirus pandemic.'

Siraj Teli, therefore, stressed that the extension in lockdown must immediately be withdrawn while the administration should be effectively utilized for strict implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). 'If the administration is able to strictly get the lockdown enforced then why it is not being used for strict implementation of SOPs', he asked, adding that the Sindh government will have to alleviate the predicament of businessmen instead of aggravating them.

'On one hand the federal and provincial governments have not provided any relief to these businesses while on the other, the Sindh government has issued COVID-19 Emergency Relief Ordinance 2020 which compels the businessmen and industrialists to retain their employees and keep on paying salaries while the businesses should remain closed. It has created a very odd situation when neither any income is being generated nor financial relief has been provided by the government which happens nowhere around the world. Therefore, this biased Relief Ordinance should also be withdrawn', Siraj Teli said, adding that although some relief has been provided through SBP's financing schemes to large businesses only who are registered with the FBR but not a single such scheme was introduced to rescue and support hundreds and...

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