KARACHI, March 30: Industrial production, in a few industrial enclaves, came down by 40 to 50 per cent on Saturday because of the public transport strike in the city as workers failed to reach factories.
The biggest industrial area—SITE Manghopir with 2,200 units— was hard hit where production is reported to have come down by about 50 per cent. Majyd Aziz, a former Chairman of the SITE Association reported labour attendance on Saturday at 40 per cent.
Only the Korangi and North Karachi industrial areas turned out to be the exceptional cases where over 75 per cent workers marked their attendance at their respective units.
Former chairman, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Shaikh Manzar Alam and current vice chairman, Ashfaq Ali Nanjiani told Dawn that the majority of workers, living in adjacent areas of Korangi industrial areas, reached their units and hardly five per cent of workforce, living in remote areas, did not come to their jobs. “Production was not affected in our area,” they said. Korangi area has around 3,200 units, in which over 80 per cent are export-oriented.
However, the decline in industrial output did not make a notable impact on the export side as officials in the Customs Export Examination both in East and West Wharf said that the processing of export documents remained normal and shortage in documents as compared to normal days was seen.
Attendance in the private and government offices remained thin.
According to President Karachi Transport Ittehad, Irshad Bukhari 3,000 buses and 17,000 mini buses and coaches observed wheel jam strike on Saturday to protest the ‘excesses’ of traffic police against drivers and to reduce the intensity of charges against the driver responsible for Karimabad killing. The driver was booked under Section 302.
“SITE industrial area suffers Rs30 million per hour in shape of production, export and revenue losses,” Majyd said adding that the four to five main industrial areas bear losses of Rs60-70 million per hour in case of any disturbance in the city.
Vice Chairman, F.B. Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI), Muzzamil Hussain said that only three to four per cent of labour and workers performed their duties, thus severely affecting the production in over 2,000 industries 90 per cent among them are export-oriented.
He said many industries faced shipments problems for the upcountry as many container type trawlers also did not arrive.
Senior Vice Chairman, North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry (NKATI), Sadiq Mohammad and NKATI Patron-in-Chief, Captain Moiz A. Khan said that the transporters strike had affected the industrial output by 25 per cent due to absence of 10-15 per cent work force that could not reach the units. They said 60-70 per cent of labour and workers live in nearby areas of North Karachi.
