Recorder Report

Karachi: Goods transporters on Tuesday began an indefinite strike against a 24-hour ban on heavy carriers’ movement in the city and have threatened to close Karachi’s entry and exit routes if their demands are not met.

Talking to Business Recorder, the spokesman of the Pakistan Goods Transporters Alliance, Agha Jawad Raza, said that the strike will continue until the transporters’ demands are met, including the demand of transfer of their case in the Sindh High Court to another court and removal of the DIG traffic.

He said the transporters did not trust the judge of who delivered the verdict banning the movement of trucks carrying heavy cargo.

He warned that the transporters are set to block all entry and exit routes of the city for all vehicular traffic at 4 pm Wednesday (today), if their demands were not met immediately. He said that the ban has virtually stopped the transportation of goods into Karachi.

He appealed to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to transfer the case another court for a settlement of the issue. He said in 2007 then Supreme Court judge Rana Baghwandas, had ordered a restriction on heavy traffic between 6 am and 11 pm, which should be restored to let heavy traffic move during night hours in the city.

He said that the transporters want the 24 hours ban on transportation on heavy traffic should be removed.

Aga Jawad also rejected the new route for heavy traffic, saying that it has increased the travel distance for transporters to over 90 kilometres. He said that the route distance has scaled up 35 kilometres from 70 kilometres, increasing the cost of transportation. He said that a link route from the Northern Bypass has been assigned for goods transportation.

The chairman of the Pakistan Apparel Forum, Muhammad Javed Bilwani, said he feared that the goods transporters’ strike will hurt the shipment of cargo to the seaports. He said that the strike will increase financial troubles not only for the exporters but also for the country’s exports, which are falling fast. He said that Pakistan continues to suffer the trade deficit as a result.

The country can undergo around Rs6 billion of loss a day with the supplies of export good to a standstill because of the transporters’ strike, he warned.

He demanded that the authorities remove the ban on heavy traffic movements in the city.