LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has raised serious concerns over the coordinated crackdown launched on the city’s industrial sector by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), the Ravi Urban Development Authority (Ruda), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has panicked the local business community.

Over the recent weeks, these regulatory bodies actively issued forced relocation notices, sealed numerous production plants and registered first information reports (FIRs) against many local enterprises.

Authorities are pressuring these long-established, legally operating industries to move outside city limits, despite the government’s failure to announce or establish alternative industrial zones, estates or dedicated Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) clusters for the displaced units.

Critics argue that uprooting thousands of functional units, without a comprehensive blueprint or infrastructure to house them, will shake investors’ confidence, besides threatening the livelihoods of millions of families relying on the city’s industrial establishments.

Argues that sans provision of facilities, infrastructure, forcing industry out of Lahore is unjust

In a sharp reaction to these enforcement measures, the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has raised serious concerns, seeking an urgent policy review to prevent an “impending economic collapse”.

LCCI President Faheemur Rehman Saigol issued a stern warning, saying the LCCI stands firmly with its members and will not allow the constitutional, legal, or business rights of any industrialist, investor, or trader to be compromised.

He questioned the logic behind forcing thousands of factories out of Lahore when the government has failed to establish even a single new industrial estate or SME area in the past 30 to 40 years.

He noted that while the state publicly advocates for attracting investment, driving exports, and creating employment, its departments are paradoxically targeting the very tax-paying industrialists who keep the national economy afloat.

The LCCI chief highlighted that small and medium-sized industrialists will bear the brunt of this “anti-industry” campaign, as most have poured their life savings into their setups and lack the millions of rupees required to construct new facilities from a scratch.

He emphasised that while the LCCI fully supports environmental protection and modern urban planning, making industries the scapegoat without providing basic infrastructure – such as electricity, gas, roads, waste management, and workers’ housing – is entirely unjust.

Demanding immediate suspension of all sealing and relocation actions by the LDA, Ruda, and EPA, the LCCI urges the government to treat industrialists as partners rather than adversaries.

The chamber calls for immediate formation of a high-level consultative committee comprising LCCI representatives, industrialists, and government stakeholders to draft a fair, realistic solution before the crisis triggers severe capital flight, mass unemployment, and permanent industrial decline.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2026