KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) and Former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Zubair Motiwala, who attended the provincial coronavirus taskforce meeting at CM House on Friday, said, “We strongly opposed the lockdown strategy to deal with the pandemic as we believe that the only workable solution for minimizing the number of covid cases is to forcefully get the people vaccinated and ensure strict implementation of SOPs instead of imposing lockdown.”
“In this regard, we stressed that the government should carry out aggressive vaccination campaign and take assistance from Pakistan Army if needed in order to compel the masses to get vaccinated at the earliest”, he added while sharing the details of the meeting which was chaired by Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and also attended by Sindh Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Sindh Minister for Industries and Commerce Jam Ikramullah Dharejo, Chief Secretary Sindh Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, Senior Vice President KCCI Saqib Goodluck, IG Sindh, DG Rangers, politicians, representatives of business community and prominent doctors.
Zubair Motiwala mentioned that it was also evident from presentation given during the meeting that 428 people lost their lives in the month of July, of which only 46 were vaccinated and were of old age who were suffering from chronic diseases which was an ample proof that vaccine was the only weapon to defeat this pandemic
He informed that Chief Minister agreed that the delivery service of restaurants will continue while the export-oriented industries and all their allied industries would also continue to operate.
Chairman BMG stressed that the small traders and shopkeepers have been facing a lot of problems due to lockdowns and limited business hours and many businesses were at the verge of total collapse. Hence, the government should try its best to minimize the grievances being faced by these shopkeepers and also the public otherwise, the people, instead of dying due to diseases caused by coronavirus, would die themselves because of poverty, unemployment, mental stress, hunger or starvation.
He said, “These are challenging times and every member of the civil society is facing problems due to COVID crises. Perhaps, it is time when the government should think about extending monetary help to citizens especially the small shopkeepers who are now in net debt position and even paying rents to owners of their business premises has really become difficult.”
Senior Vice President KCCI M. Saqib Goodluck suggested at the meeting that the number of COVID-19 Vaccination Centers have to be enhanced all over the city and made operational at Union Council (UC) level so that the people could get vaccinated in a hassle -free environment as it has been observed that many people were reluctant to visit the existing overcrowded vaccination centers.
