Practical steps needed to resolve business community’s issues: Tanveer

Business Recorder reported that S M Tanveer, Patron-in-Chief of United Business Group, told traders at a Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders & Small Industry event on Tuesday that solving their problems calls for hands-on steps, sustained outreach and forceful advocacy rather than mere promises. He pledged that concerns raised by the chamber's leadership would be ranked on a priority list and followed up steadily. He also welcomed Bilal Khan's move to invite Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to Hyderabad for a direct meeting with business representatives.

Chamber president Muhammad Saleem Memon said Hyderabad's traders and industrialists add to the national economy, jobs and tax collection, yet struggle with electricity, gas, infrastructure, production costs and taxation. He wants the FBR system made simpler, clearer and workable for small traders, and a regular freight train stop in the city to cut costs. He also flagged how swings in petroleum product prices weigh on production expenses.

Nadeem Ahmed Siddiqui, the newly elected HCSTSI president, said Hyderabad SITE produces an estimated Rs 120 to 200 billion in economic activity each year, while the city's industrial potential is far greater. Even after allotment announcements 16 years ago and applicant payments, many industrialists still lack possession of their plots. Atif Ikram Sheikh, FPCCI president, pledged cooperation and said he would pursue a cargo train stop after consulting the federal railways minister.