KARACHI, Dec 1: Violence in the commercial hub of the country during the last three days marred industrial and business activity and attendance in industry and commercial establishments remained thin in the absence of public transport.

Following killings and torching of public transport vehicles, which began late Saturday evening, the city remained in the grip of fear for the third day consecutive day on Monday.

Almost all the five industrial estates suffered heavy production losses owing to thin attendance, while the SITE area, the largest and oldest industrial estate of the country, gave a deserted look.

Production losses went into billions and many exporters could not meet shipment schedules and may lose their foreign contracts or would have to air-lift consignments to save their L/Cs.

The losses occurred at a time when the country is already under tremendous financial and economic crisis.

The high cost of production and slump in the world market was already having its toll on the industry, but killing and arson which paralysed the city for three days has not only shaken up confidence of trade and industry, but also caused colossal loss to the exchequer.

Mian Zahid Husain, chairman, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), told Dawn that due to thin attendance, most of the industrial units performed less than 50 per cent while some remained completely closed.

He said production losses worth around Rs1.5 billion were suffered by the industries in the KATI area and around Rs29 crore were lost in revenue. In the absence of public transport, he said, workers could not reach their work-places, and it resulted in thin attendance. The KATI chief further stated that the government should immediately take measures to ensure peace by maintaining law and order in the city so that industrial activity could resume.

He was apprehensive about the current fragile economic situation of the country and said this would further aggravate the condition.

M A Jabbar, chairman, SITE Association, said that the biggest industrial area of the country was giving the look of a ghost town.

Being in the proximity of the most disturbed areas, he said, mostly workers did not turn up to their work-places, fearing for their lives.

Since public transport was very thin on Monday, he said this aggravated the situation and people preferred to stay indoors, fearing fresh killings and arson.

Mr Jabbar said that of the 65 per cent revenue generated by Sindh to the national kitty, 40 per cent comes from the SITE industrial area. However, since fear has gripped the city, around 80 per cent of the workforce did not turn up.

A similar situation prevailed in the F B Area Association of Trade and Industry and North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry. Both the industrial areas are also in the proximity of most disturbed areas of the city and remained largely closed.According to reports, some miscreants from the adjoining locality stormed into the F B Industrial Area early in the morning, which forced most of the industries to close down their production process.

As a result, the industry suffered heavy production losses because around 60 per cent of units remained closed and the remaining operated up to 40 per cent capacity owing to thin attendance.

The Landhi Association of Trade and Industry, however, somewhat remained less affected because it houses large industrial units which have their own labour colonies inside their units. However, small industrial units suffered heavily because of thin attendance.