Interim govt given 72 hours to roll back power tariff hike

Traders say caretakers mandated to conduct polls only, not to impose new taxes

KARACHI:

Traders have given the caretaker government a 72-hour ultimatum to reduce excess electricity bills and withdraw increased petroleum levy.

Karachi Traders Action Committee Convener Muhammad Rizwan gave the ultimatum at a press conference on Friday evening after a shutter down strike in markets in the old city area from Saddar to Merewether Tower.

"There is no restriction on traders to join the September 2 strike of Jamaat-e-Islami," he said explaining that a majority of traders in Karachi were not in favour of Saturday's strike.

Representatives of traders can keep their business centres open or shut on Saturday at their discretion, he said.

Rizwan commended Jamaat-e-Islami for highlighting issue of excessive electricity bills in a systematic manner, for which business community is grateful to them.

He said that there was a complete shutdown of markets in Karachi on Friday. Successful shutdown was adopted on agenda of problems of people and businessmen worried about inflation. He said that the caretaker prime minister's mandate is only to conduct elections, not to impose new taxes.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2023.