Industries work below capacity on day two

Impact was lees severe than a day earlier.

KARACHI:

Industrialists faced shortage of labour and operated below their capacity for a second day in a row as majority of passenger vehicles remained off the roads in protest against the fuel price hike.

The impact, however, was less severe as compared to Thursday, after the government announced a 50 per cent reduction in the increase in petroleum product prices late on Thursday night.

Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry Chairman Muhammad Irfan said that factories worked at an average 40 per cent of their production capacity due to shortage of staff. He said the break in the supply chain will cost the industrial zone dearly, while the government was deprived of Rs25 million in daily taxes.

SITE Association of Trade and Industry Chairman Wahab Lakhani said that while worker turnout was better than previous day, yet 40 per cent staff could not reach their workplaces.

Lakhani estimated daily production losses at around Rs30-40 million for the industrialists of the city, which he said were “losses that can never be recovered”.

North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry official Muhammad Abid said that many of their workers live within the locality and therefore they did not face any significant shortage of staff.

Korangi Association of Trade and Industry former chairman Razzak Hashim Paracha said that Korangi also saw a better working day on Friday compared to a day earlier.

However, workers had to dish out extra cash for the second day in a row to reach their workplaces through either rickshaw or taxi, causing a significant hole in their wallets. Many workers said that while they usually paid Rs10-20 on public transport, they had to pay three-times the amount on rickshaws and taxis.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2011.