Over 350 marble factories in the city are going to be closed from Saturday in protest against the increasing number of extortions in the industrial area. Hundreds of industrial units of marble in a meeting on Wednesday have decided to shut factories as the last resort to avoid life threats given by the extortionists in case of not paying the demanded amount.
Talking to media, Sanaullah Khan Chairman, All Pakistan Marble Mining, Processing and Export Industry said that the decision has been taken unanimously by the owners of over 350 marble factories located at Qasba Colony area of the city as they had no option left. As the government has failed to give protection to the marble exporters who are already facing losses in view of the hours’ long power breakdowns and criminal activities, the businessmen would prefer to save lives while keeping their factories closed.
Factory owners in the city’s volatile neighborhood have started receiving extortion slips and threats of dire consequences in case of non-payment. “Extortionists are now freely distributing the slips demanding Rs50,000 to Rs1,000,000 from a factory owner” he added. According to him the industrial units in the area which remained closed for months due to violence last year, will now again remain closed until the issue was addressed by concerned authorities, including rangers and police. The claimed imposition section-144 in the city has proved useless as far as the security situation is concerned in the area.
To a question he said “We are waiting to clear the already planned shipments of exportable marble at ports”. The concerned thousands of employees have already been told that the units would remain closed from Saturday.
The closure of factories would not only make huge losses to the exporters but also cause huge decline in export of the valued goods thus reducing the over all exports of the country.
As the law enforcement agencies have failed to stop the criminal activities in the markets, the security control of the city, he suggested, should be given to the army while taking serious and unbiased action against the criminals. He appealed to Army Chief to tack the city in military control.
He demanded of the government to ensure arrest of the culprits and award them an exemplary punishment. He said: “If the government does not arrest criminal and stop the extortion, kidnapping for ransom and other criminal tactics in the city, the businessmen have the right to close their business for indefinite period.
It is worth mentioning here that after an improvement for months in the criminal activities in the country the street crime and extortion cases have again increased by manifolds in the city especially in markets, commercial and industrial areas.
Besides the unfavorable situation in the city has badly affected the export of marble which has declined by 65 percent during the last six months. The country has exported marble worth $ 13 million against the target of $ 50 million during July to December 2011. The current export figure has also shown the decline of 65 percent as compared to $ 20 million the country fetched during the corresponding period of financial year 2010-2011