SWABI, June 12: The Gadoon Chamber of Commerce and Industry president has said that over 20 units in the Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate may be closed in the current month if the federal and provincial governments fail to take remedial measures for the estate.

Chamber chief Fazal Amin was giving a briefing to District Nazim Jehanzeb Khan and Naib Nazim Liaquat Ahmad Khan on the industrial estate here on Saturday.

At present, he said, only 45 of the 360 industrial units were running, while the remaining had already been closed after the withdrawal of incentives.

The closure of over 20 units would render about 3,000 employees jobless, he said, adding that the industrialists had no option but to close the units due to huge loss.

Mr Amin said that after the withdrawal of the incentives by the Nawaz government, they had made all-out efforts for the restoration of some incentives, but to no avail.

He informed the Nazim and Naib Nazim that the plan of the Gadoon Estate Export Processing Zone had also been pushed into the cold storage.

The Nazim said the Gadoon estate was not given to the district as a gift. At least eight people had been killed and many more suffered loss when the law enforcement agencies launched operation to destroy the poppy crop in the Gadoon Amazai area in 1986. "Under the agreement reached with the poppy growers, the government had to provide them with alternative sources of livelihood," he added.