LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Sheikh Alauddin on Monday denounced the FBR raids on business premises and said that he would take up the issue with the senior management.
Speaking at the memorandum of understanding signing ceremony between the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Skills for all at the LCCI.
LCCI President Abdul Basit, Senior Vice President Amjad Ali Jawa, Vice President Nasir Khan, Skills for All Chief Executive Sikandar Lodhi, Mehreen Syed, Tanvir Ahmed, Moazam Rasheed, Ali Hassam Asghar, Tehmina Chaudhry, Mukhtar Ali and Ashraf Bhatti also spoke on the occasion.
The minister said that business community is the backbone of the economy and it should be given due respect. He said businessmen could contact him if FBR officials are misusing their powers or conducting undue raids on the business premises. He said the government is committed to imparting all possible facilities to the business community as it is playing a major role in bringing economic stability. He said that no country could achieve economic targets without the due role of the business community therefore the government is making all-out efforts to resolve their issues.
He said that said that the Punjab government has set a target to generate a 2 million strong skilled labour force by 2018 that would bring a revolution as industries would have highly skilled human resources. The minister said Pakistan has great scope of human resources development as 65% population is youth and age of between 15 to 35 years.
The LCCI president lauded the gesture of the minister and said that such support would lift the moral of the business community. He condemned the raids on business premises and markets and harassment measures by the staff of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), adding to the miseries of the business community but are also promoting a trust deficit between the government and the business community. He said that Alauddin represented the largest province of the country and his support would definitely help resolve this issue at the earliest.
Moreover, the LCCI president said that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry had always called for the promotion of human resources development. He said that the LCCI is taking practical steps in this regard and organizes training programs and workshops in collaboration with the government and private departments for its members.
The LCCI SVP said that focus should be shifted from traditional to technical education as skill is future of the country. He said that policy should be formulated for the promotion of technical education and establishment of maximum numbers vocational training institutes in Punjab.
The LCCI VP said the government should immediately withdraw the draconian provisions and laws giving immense discretionary powers acquired through last four Finance Bills, to the officers of Inland Revenue and field formations which is a core issue and resulting in hardship, loss of productivity and mental torture to the business community. These laws have kept a large number of potential tax-payers out of the tax regime. In fact these laws are a deterrent to broadening of tax-base and resulted in promoting the culture of tax-evasion. They urged the government to implement their recommendations in true sense of word.
Lodhi said Skills for All and the LCCI would jointly tackle the challenge of skilled human resources shortage. He said that solution would be provided to the industry and the government.
Mehreen said Skill for All would get feedback from the industrial sector to evolve strategy to develop skilled human resources.
