The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Standing Committee on Printers and Publishers has expressed concern over ignoring local printers by government, semi-government and financial institutes in printing work. The committee said that there was a need to protect businesses of more than 5,000 local prints by giving printing work to them by the government departments and financial institutes. The matter was discussed in a committee meeting held under its head Sheryar Lodhi.

The meeting stated that when the Punjab government opened a tender regarding printing and publishing, it mentioned that only local bidders were allowed to apply for it. It was also said that the federal government had reduced taxes by 50 per cent after joint efforts of provincial government and SCCI to improve businesses activities despite the unfavourable environment. The participants said that the government and semi-government institutes had offered orders for printing to Punjab, ignoring local printers, and expressed the fear that the printing industry was being affected in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He said that the government should take immediate notice to save thousands of workers attached with the business from becoming jobless.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012