FAISALABAD, Jan 22: Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) has criticized the government decision for exempting machinery and other related material from all taxes only for Special Industrial Zones (SIZs) in the country and termed it harmful to rest of the industrial sector.

President FCCI, Mian Naeemur Rehman, in a statement here on Tuesday said that due to this decision there would be a vast difference of standard of goods manufactured by the units in the so-called industrial zones and out of the same.

He demanded the government to withdraw this decision forthwith.

He termed the SRO No 34(1) 2002 as a conspiracy against the industrialists hatched by the government officials just to rein the industries. Under the new SRO, the federal government had allowed the setting up of industrial units and importing machinery and other material without any sales tax and duties for eight years, which would jolt the remaining industrial sector of the country, he maintained.

He said that CBR authorities had neither mentioned the locations of special industrial zones nor it had been marked that which industries fall under the category of such zones in the country.