KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) & Former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Zubair Motiwala has urged all shopkeepers and small traders to exhibit complete unity and solidarity under KCCI’s umbrella so that one strong voice could be raised to compel the federal and provincial governments to pay attention to Karachi and immediately resolve all the issues being suffered by Karachiites.
“The Karachi Chamber, being the premier Chamber and a true representative of the entire business community, is not just for resolving problems of businessmen and industrialists but small traders and shopkeepers are also equally important and dear to us hence, BMG Leadership and KCCI Office Bearers are always available to help out small traders and shopkeepers who are an integral part of this Chamber”, he added while speaking at the first meeting of Special Committee for Small Traders which was also attended by Vice Chairman BMG Jawed Bilwani, President KCCI Muhammad Idrees, Senior Vice President Abdul Rehman Naqi, Chairman of KCCI’s Special Committee for Small Traders Majeed Memon, Former Presidents KCCI Majyd Aziz & Younus Muhammad Bashir, Former Senior Vice President Talat Mehmood, KCCI Managing Committee Members and a large number of shopkeepers and representatives of commercial markets’ associations.
Commenting on the hardships being suffered by shopkeepers due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, Chairman BMG urged the Federal and Provincial Governments to provide a helping hand to the perturbed small traders and shopkeepers who were still distressed and have not come out of crises because of the severe losses suffered during lockdowns. He said that the Karachi Chamber was struggling really hard to some how convince the government to extend financial support to shopkeepers as compensation for the losses suffered by them during COVID-19 pandemic.
Responding to concerns expressed by meeting participants over poor attitude of police officers towards shopkeepers, Zubair Motiwala assured that the Karachi Chamber was well aware of this particular issue hence it has already been discussed with Karachi Police Chief Imran Yaqub Minhas who assured to deal with it at the earliest so that the small traders and shopkeepers could carry out their business activities without any kind of fear from police.
