KARACHI: Leaders of the business community on Thursday partially agreed to the provincial government’s plans for shutting the marketplaces early in the evening as they proposed to close shops by 9pm instead of 7pm as pitched by the government, officials said.

Officials said industries minister Manzoor Wassan presided over a meeting at the Sindh Secretariat in which advisers to the chief minister for information, law and labour Maula Bux Chandio, Murtaza Wahab, senior officials and representatives of trader and businessmen bodies, Abdul Samad, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Rizwan Irfan, Atiq Mir and others took part.

Mr Wassan said the meeting was part of a series of such exercises in which the government would consult the stakeholders before taking a final decision about the closure of markets in the province, Karachi in particular.

“We have received a variety of proposals from various stakeholders during today’s meeting,” said the minister while speaking to reporters after the meeting ended.

He said the committee he was heading would submit its report to the Sindh cabinet after taking all stakeholders in the loop.

“The cabinet will take the final decision,” he said.

Officials said representatives of various organisations gave different timings for the market closure, ranging from 9pm to 11pm.

Atiq Mir told the minister that 7pm was not feasible at all as that would gravely hurt businesses. He proposed 9pm for the market closure.

Abdul Samad of the Saddar markets’ body said timings for closure of the markets should be fixed. “This will help everyone, particularly us who don’t know when to have some comfort.” Some stakeholders even supported the government’s proposed deadline, but most suggested 9pm.

“The government has not decided about implementation of the market timings,” said the minister. “Rest assured, we’ll take a decision that will be acceptable to everyone.”

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2016