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LARKANA, May 21: A complete shutterdown strike was observed in Shahdadkot on Wednesday at the call of ‘Save mill committee.’
The call was given by labour leaders in protest against the closure of Shahdadkot Textile Mills. Owners of the mills recently pasted a notice on the main gate shunting out 435 workers of spinning section. Labourers had been demanding re-opening of the mills to save them and their families from starvation.
A procession led by labour leaders Abdul Fatah Markhand, Mir Muhammed Lashari and others was taken out from Sabzi Mandi and assembled at Kotu-Motu Chowk where participants burnt tyres, made speeches and staged sit-in for two hours.
The participants demanded of the PPP government to revive the Shahdadkot Textile Mills which late Benazir Bhutto had gifted to the area. They slammed the indifferent attitude of rulers and elected representatives for remaining silent over the issue as it had put at risk livelihood of hundreds of labourers. Workers began agitation since the closure and swore to continue the struggle till the re-opening of mills.
TRADERS: Organisations of small traders and cottage industries, Sindh Chapter have warned of negative impact on local production over the government’s behaviour and tendencies in framing economic policies and making subservient the dictates of World Bank and IMF.
President All Pakistan Small Traders and Cottage Industries Mashooque Jatoi while speaking to a press conference on Wednesday said that toeing these polices had severely affected the poor while the rich grew richer. He said at present we were not a position to compete with products from China, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia and other countries that had flooded markets.
Inflation, price spiral paired with the devaluation of rupee had further affected our local industry and their production. He criticised the bureaucracy for unilaterally formulating economic policies, never suited to poor and downtrodden.
The government should reduce rebate and subsidy on other products and pass on the benefit to wheat, rice, sugar and other commodities he said adding cottage industry zones should be developed on district level.
He also called for reconstituting the Federal Board of Revenue with the representation of small traders. Small traders should be given representation in other sectors also, he said.
GARHI VISIT: Six Balochistan ministers on Wednesday reached Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto to offer fateha at the graves of the slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and brothers Murtaza Bhutto Shahnawaz Bhutto
Balochistan Minister for Works and Services Mohammad Sadiq Umrani told newsmen that a commission comprising assembly members would be constituted to investigate into the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Balach Marri and other Baloch nationalists.
