KARACHI: Heavy rains on Tuesday brought production activities in Karachi to a halt except for Site industrial area which had made preemptive arrangements in view of the weather forecast to ensure production continued unhindered.

After witnessing rains on Monday and given the Met office’s warnings of flooding and rains on Tuesday, many workers and staffers opted to stay at home on second day of the week.

In addition, movement of goods to ports from industries and arrival of raw material from up country and ports towards production units was suspended while local supplies to the markets from industries were also affected due to closure of markets. Korangi Association of Trade and Industry President Sheikh Umer Rehan said only 20 per cent of the labour marked their attendance on Tuesday resulting in only 25-30pc production activities in the area.

He said after the loss of morning shifts, many industries had to cancel night shifts due to uncertain weather and rain emergencies imposed by the Sindh government.

Prior to this, continuous rains on Aug 7 had plunged production activities by 50pc.

F. B. Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI) President Abdullah Abid said 50pc of morning workers did not arrive while industrialists asked workers to go to their homes as early as 2pm as half of the workforce in FBATI area comprises women. “Industries have recorded only 20pc factory output due to lack of workers, while the industrial area was giving a deserted look after 2pm,” he added.

North Karachi Association of Trade and Industry President Naseem Akhtar also said that only 50pc workers registered their attendance in the morning, out of which 25pc left for their homes in the second half, thus bringing down the output to only 25pc on Tuesday.

However, Site Association of Industry President Suleman Chawla told a different story claiming that factories suffered only 25pc drop in labor attendance as industries on their own had made arrangements by cleaning roads, sewerage system and nullahs. “As a result, our production remained almost normal,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2020