KARACHI – While recalling how excellently the then government under the leadership of President Asif Zardari gave go-ahead within minutes for compensation and rehabilitation of Bolton Market fire incident in 2009, Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) Zubair Motiwala and President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Muhammad Idrees urged that similar kind of attitude has to be adopted once again in dealing with the fire incident at Cooperative Market while KCCI was ready to offer full cooperation with a view to minimizing the hardships of Cooperative Market shopkeepers.
In a joint statement, Chairman BMG and President KCCI said at that point in time when the Bolton Market incident happened, KCCI was appointed as the focal body and a committee was formed by the government under the Chairmanship of Zubair Motiwala to investigate and evaluate the losses for compensation to affectees and it was a matter of pride and a great achievement that all the affectees were to date very grateful to KCCI for its splendid role that led to the timely release of compensation exactly as per their aspirations. Hence, the committee formed to probe fire incidents of Cooperative Market should have representation of KCCI and Cooperative Market Association and this committee must also be tasked to carry out the assessment of losses for compensation to affectees.
Chairman BMG Zubair Motiwala said that the perturbed shopkeepers were on a recovery mode as businesses recently returned to normalcy after taking a roller coaster ride for almost one and a half years due to pandemic and lockdowns but unfortunately, they have now been plunged to ground zero as the uncontrollable fire completely engulfed their shops. “The Karachi Chamber will never leave the distressed shopkeepers alone during this hour of grief and keep knocking every single door till the perturbed shopkeepers get relief”, he added.
President KCCI Muhammad Idrees said that KCCI was ready to cooperate and work closely with the Sindh government for evaluating the overall losses suffered by cooperative market shopkeepers. “Everyone is well-aware of how we ensured compensation to affectees of Bolton Market incident and we are ready to do it once again with the same zeal for the affectees of Cooperative Market as well”, he added.
He said that Cooperative Market was situated in Saddar which was one of the most bustling business hubs of Karachi and the shopkeepers/ traders of this particular area contribute heavily to the national and provincial kitties in the shape of taxes. Hence, the government should come forward to support them on humanitarian grounds”, he added.
