Chamber demands special relief package

Insists it will help shopkeepers with rented premises to recover losses

FAISALABAD: A special relief package is required particularly for the shopkeepers having rented premises to help them to recover losses due to the prolonged lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, said Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Rana Muhammad Sikandar Azam Khan.

Talking to a delegation of traders, Khan said the FCCI was already making serious efforts to mitigate their sufferings and in that connection, the government had deferred payment of two-month rent on their demand.

He was of the view that extension in the lockdown and reduced working hours for commercial markets and their complete closure on Saturday and Sunday caused new problems for them.

The chamber president pointed out that it was a general practice that new shoes, clothes and other things were purchased during a specific period of time.

“Books are purchased when the new academic year begins,” he said, adding that similarly new clothes, shoes and other related items were purchased in bulk for marriage ceremonies.

He lamented that the coronavirus had slowed down economic activities and there were no visible chances of their immediate revival. Khan said their landlords were demanding payment of rent for the closed period.

They somehow managed to pay the rent and salaries to their employees but “now it has become difficult for them to bear these expenditures without earning even a single penny”.

He added that the traders paid billions of rupees in taxes to the government and “probably it is for the first time they need government’s help and support to keep their businesses afloat”.

Khan demanded that the government pay the rent of their shops in addition to writing off their entire tax liability for the current financial year.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2020.

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