Offices and factories remain deserted

Companies and industrialists were unable to issue salaries to employees in the absence of banking services in Karachi.

KARACHI: Most companies were unable to issue salaries to employees in the absence of banking services in Karachi. Various industrialists confirmed that salaries for the month of July were not issued due to lack of banking services and the absence of their employees.

Furthermore, petrol pumps remained closed during the early hours of Wednesday as reports of rioting and firing in different parts of the city prevented fearful owners from opening their outlets.

Although banks were officially open, attendance at most branches remained dismal. “We only had about 10 per cent of the staff who showed up at work and by noon we had realised that it was too risky to stay open so we closed most branches for the day,” revealed the head of corporate communications of a private bank.

He explained that the workers had not been able to reach work due to a lack of public transport and very few customers came to branches to avail services on Wednesday.

“Two million daily wagers in the city have been without work for two days now,” said Chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, Atiq Mir. He added that these people depended on their daily earnings and millions of households will be driven towards starvation if the situation persisted.

Mir confirmed that all major markets of the city remained closed, however he said “political leadership of the MQM has assured us that they will help us open markets on Thursday.”

He said that local markets had lost revenue worth more than Rs2.5 billion in the past two days. The transport of goods and services to and from the city has also been affected.

“Further increases in the price of liquefied petroleum gas could be seen if transport from Karachi to Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa remains affected,” the Chairman Pakistan LPG Dealers Association, Hadi Khan, told The Express Tribune.

Supplies of fruits and vegetables to the city have also remained disrupted over the past two days. Representatives of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry have estimated that losses from damage to property and closure of businesses could reach as high as Rs10 billion. They have appealed to the government to take quick measures to restore peace to the city so that economic activities may resume.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2010.