Fire at New Sabzi Mandi: Workers to observe strike till govt pays compensation
Without empty sacks and cartons, the supply of fruits and vegetables will be affected.
A fire gutted the New Sabzi Mandi on March 6. PHOTO: REUTERS
KARACHI:
With no compensation in sight for the damages caused by the fire on March 6, workers selling empty sacks and cartons at the New Sabzi Mandi went on a strike on Wednesday, suspending the supply for packing vegetables and fruits at the market.
The market association had given a four-day ultimatum to the provincial government to provide compensation to those whose shops and stocks were gutted in the fire that broke out last week. After their deadline ended on Tuesday, the representatives of various associations of empty sacks and cartons dealers went on strike for an indefinite period.
“We are on a complete strike, not a single carton was sold today,” said the general secretary of the Karachi Khali Krate Workers Welfare Association, Mohammad Ayaz Khan. “More than 2,200 shops were gutted in the fire, out of which very few were offices and hotels. The rest were shops of the poor Bardana (empty sacks and cartons) dealers. We want the government to help these poor people so that they can stand up on their feet again.”
Khan said that around 100 trucks of empty cartons are used in the market daily for transporting vegetables and fruits.
The chairperson of the Sabzi Mandi businessmen’s alliance, Haji Syed Abdul Razzak Shah, told The Express Tribune that the strike will affect the fruit and vegetables supply within the city and across the country. “The supply [of fruits and vegetables] that we sent out today was already packed, but in the upcoming days when the landowners have no material to stock their items in, work will be affected,” said Shah. He added that the association has submitted the lists of those who lost their shops and stock in the fire to the provincial secretary of agriculture and to Karachi Market Committee Administrator for compensation.
Around 1,167 shops of empty sacks and cartons got torched in the fire, which were worth Rs200 million, Shah said, adding that the secretary in a meeting at Sindh Secretariat on Wednesday assured them of providing compensation to those whose properties were gutted in the fire.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2013.
With no compensation in sight for the damages caused by the fire on March 6, workers selling empty sacks and cartons at the New Sabzi Mandi went on a strike on Wednesday, suspending the supply for packing vegetables and fruits at the market.
The market association had given a four-day ultimatum to the provincial government to provide compensation to those whose shops and stocks were gutted in the fire that broke out last week. After their deadline ended on Tuesday, the representatives of various associations of empty sacks and cartons dealers went on strike for an indefinite period.
“We are on a complete strike, not a single carton was sold today,” said the general secretary of the Karachi Khali Krate Workers Welfare Association, Mohammad Ayaz Khan. “More than 2,200 shops were gutted in the fire, out of which very few were offices and hotels. The rest were shops of the poor Bardana (empty sacks and cartons) dealers. We want the government to help these poor people so that they can stand up on their feet again.”
Khan said that around 100 trucks of empty cartons are used in the market daily for transporting vegetables and fruits.
The chairperson of the Sabzi Mandi businessmen’s alliance, Haji Syed Abdul Razzak Shah, told The Express Tribune that the strike will affect the fruit and vegetables supply within the city and across the country. “The supply [of fruits and vegetables] that we sent out today was already packed, but in the upcoming days when the landowners have no material to stock their items in, work will be affected,” said Shah. He added that the association has submitted the lists of those who lost their shops and stock in the fire to the provincial secretary of agriculture and to Karachi Market Committee Administrator for compensation.
Around 1,167 shops of empty sacks and cartons got torched in the fire, which were worth Rs200 million, Shah said, adding that the secretary in a meeting at Sindh Secretariat on Wednesday assured them of providing compensation to those whose properties were gutted in the fire.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2013.