PESHAWAR: Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to exempt the BRT-affected traders from all kinds of taxes for three years and ensure early completion of the project.

A statement issued here said the demand was raised through a resolution unanimously adopted at a meeting of the chamber chaired by its president Faiz Mohammad.

The participants, particularly the chamber’s executive committee members, expressed grave concern over the government’s failure to materialise its commitment regarding completion of the Bus Rapid Transit project and provision of compensation to the traders who had suffered due to the construction work.

The meeting urged the chief minister to take the business community on board and accept its demands at the earliest. The traders narrated their ordeal caused due to delay in BRT and said many of the businessmen had shut their workplaces as there was thick dust and customers faced severe hardships in accessing the markets, particularly the University Road and cantonment areas.

The participants said the delay proved that government was least bothered to pay proper heed towards completion of the mega project which caused irreparable loss to traders, saying they should be exempted from property and professional taxes.

They also talked about the losses they faced due to militancy and said the BRT was last nail in coffin of the trade activities in the provincial metropolis.

The SCCI also demanded of the government to withdraw the increase in taxes and address the grievances of the community.

Prominent among the participants were SCCI senior vice president Engr Saad Khan Zahid, former presidents Riaz Arshad, Malik Niaz Ahmed, former senior vice president Mohammad Naeem Butt, executive committee members Malik Niaz Mohammad Awan, Mohammad Shafiq Afridi, Shahid Hussain, Akbar Ali Khan, Sanaullah Khan and Shams-ur-Rahim Afridi.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018