BMG & KCCI celebrate 20 years of public service

Karachiites to face hardships during next four months due to development work: CM

Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli presenting crest to Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah who attended the Celebration at Baradari to mark 20 years of Public Service by BMG & KCCI. Vice Chairman BMG and Former Presidents KCCI Tahir Khaliq, Zubair Motiwala, Haroon Farooki and Anjum Nisar, President KCCI Muffasar Atta Malik and Senior Vice President KCCI Abdul Basit Abdul Razzak are also present on the occasion.

KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Karachiites will be facing some hardships because the traffic flow situation in Karachi, which was already in bad shape, will worsen further as many mega schemes pertaining to construction of roads will commence in Karachi from October 2017 to February 2018, which will surely provide huge relief upon completion.

Speaking at the dazzling and most stunning Celebration organized to mark 20 years of Public Service to the Business & Industrial Community by Businessmen Group (BMG) from KCCI’s platform, Syed Murad Ali Shah said that although he has been making announcements from time to time about these schemes but now, the time has come to start all these schemes, of which four will simultaneously start this month where few more will begin by November 15. “From October to February next year, you will see major work going on in numerous development projects and we would like to extend regrets to the citizens for the inconvenience that are likely to occur however, this inconvenience will ultimately prove beneficial once these projects are completed”, he added.

Members of Sindh Cabinet including Manzoor Hussain Wassan, Nisar Ahmed Khuhuro, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Sikandar Ali Mandhro, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Muhammad Ali Malkani and Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Former Federal Minister Dr. Asim Hussain, Former Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, other MPAs and Ministers attended the Celebration whereas Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli, Vice Chairmen BMG Tahir Khaliq, Zubair Motiwala, Haroon Farooki & Anjum Nisar, President KCCI Muffasar Atta Malik, Senior Vice President Abdul Basit Abdul Razzak, Managing Committee members, Former Presidents and prominent members of Diplomatic Corps along with KCCI members were also present on the occasion.

Chief Minister Sindh further stated that Sindh government, while devising plans to improve the traffic system of the city, found that many issues can easily be resolved through effective management of traffic system. In this regard, Sindh government intends to seek assistance from the World Bank for establishment of more one-way routes and modification in the directions of some existing roads which would result in improving the situation at these roads.

He said that Sindh government was paying special attention to Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project, which will be revived on modern lines. “We have advanced well in this regard as all the required approvals have been obtained and ECNEC has also given go ahead to KCR last Friday, which will be followed by framework agreement, to be sent to China. The framework agreement for KCR has also been approved by the Law Division in Islamabad. Although it was our willingness to perform KCR’s ground breaking on 25^th December but it may suffer some delay of two more months”, Chief Minister said and assured that the construction work for KCR will begin in the first quarter of 2018.

Murad Ali Shah paid glowing tribute to Chairman BMG for his meritorious services to the business and industrial community of Karachi. “Today is a day when Businessmen Group is celebrating 20 years of its successful journey which deserves to be widely acknowledged by the Sindh government, business and industrial community and all the citizens of this city”, he added.

Appreciating the leadership skills of Siraj Teli whose Businessmen Group has been winning KCCI’s elections since its formation in 1998, CM said, “It is an achievement which simply cannot be found in any other part of the world, which was due to BMG’s dedication and truthfulness to serve the business and industrial community without any discrimination.”

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman Businessmen Group & Former President KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli paid glowing tribute to Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and his Cabinet, diplomats, Former Presidents, Managing Committee and KCCI Members for their dense participation at the celebration.

Highlighting 20 years of Businessmen Group at KCCI, he said, “During all these years, we tried our best to work honestly and we are grateful to the entire business and industrial community for their full-fledge support. There was a time when Karachi Chamber was in the clutches of a mafia, which only gave favors to a handful of personal contacts but never contributed anything for this city. Therefore, I decided to intervene in KCCI’s politics by forming BMG in 1998 and I can proudly say, we have successfully done many corrections in KCCI’s functioning by staying focused on honestly serving the business & industrial community and the Karachiites.”

He said that during the last 20 years, numerous initiatives including My Karachi Exhibition, Economic Horizon Magazine and Export Trophy Awards were introduced and improved, which became self-sustainable. In fact, all these initiatives add savings to KCCI’s kitty, making the Chamber strong enough to purchase a land spread on an area of 2600 yards at a cost of 450 million in the vicinity of Clifton where KCCI’s new building will be constructed in the next two-and-a-half years at a cost of 500 million.

He paid glowing tribute to all the friends of Businessmen Group who always came forward to cast vote in favor of BMG in the crucial elections held during the initial 9 years since 1998 with a voters’ turnout of more than 50 percent whereas the last 11 election have been won unopposed.

“Businessmen Group never forgets anyone, particularly Siraj Teli always remembers those fellows who supported him in difficult times. During all these years, I remained really truthful, though it created a lot of problems and troubles yet, I remained completely determined, which resulted in beating all our rivals who faced defeat and moved out of the Chamber”, he added.

Siraj Teli further said that although corrections have been successfully done at KCCI but we remained unsuccessful in rectifying other Trade Bodies and Chambers despite numerous attempts made during the first era of PPP government, Nawaz Sharif’s era in 1999, and also during Musharraf’s regime.

He stressed that the system of Trade Bodies and Chambers has to be rectified whereas fake associations must be completely eradicated so that genuine representatives could come forward, which would certainly give weightage to the voice of business and industrial community.

Chairman BMG opined that the economic crisis being faced by the country were largely due to business and industrial community itself whereas politicians and political parties were not that much responsible. “If we, the business and industrial community, would have always spoken the truth only, l don’t think any government could have dared to neglect our voice. Unfortunately, anyone speaking the truth is usually suppressed by those elements who only give appreciations and hails to the presence which is the basic reason why our economy continues to suffer badly”, he added.

This environment amongst the representatives business and industrial community, has to change, he stressed, and prayed may Almighty Allah give realization to all such businessmen and industrialists to immediately stop such misdeeds and start speaking the truth in the larger interest of the country.

Paying tribute to all the Former Presidents of Karachi Chamber belonging to Businessmen Group, he said that all of them have worked honestly and dedicatedly to serve the business and industrial community. “During all these years, I tried my best to ensure minimum possible damage and minimum possible conflicts. We, at KCCI, remain focused on the improvement of Karachi, progress of business and industrial community and development of the economy”, he added.

He said, “Nobody accepts the massive revenue contribution of 65 to 70 percent by Karachi city. We don’t demand that the entire revenue contributed by Karachi is spent on it, we only demand Karachi’s due and rightful share.”

Earlier President KCCI Muffasar Atta Malik, in his welcome remarks, paid glowing tribute to Sindh government, particularly Chief Minister and his Cabinet Members who extended full support and cooperation to make the Celebration successful and memorable.

He attributed BMG’s success to transparent policies introduced by Siraj Teli that resulted in transforming this institution from a bankrupt Chamber in 1998 to a self-sustainable and financially strong Chamber in 2017.

Acknowledging the development work carried out in Karachi by Sindh Government, Muffasar Malik was fairly optimistic that with efforts of CM Sindh projects like K-4 bulk water supply scheme, Karachi Sewerage SIII project, Bus Rapid Transport projects, KCR and integrated solid waste management project will be completed on a fast pace, considering the intense shortage of water supply, transport and other civic facilities.

He assured that KCCI is fully supporting and will continue to support the Sindh government in raising voice for the rights of Sindh province and Karachi city, particularly Sindh government’s objections over the results of latest census. “In my opinion, the population of Karachi is much more actually and a review has to be carried out to ascertain the correct position”, he added.