A delegation of traders led by Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi, former President and Convener of MCI Committee of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) held a lengthy meeting with Hamza Shafqat, Administrator MCI and Deputy Commissioner Islamabad to discuss the key issues of markets. Ajmal Baloch President All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran, Khalid Chaudhry former Senior Vice President ICCI, Sardar Tahir Mehmood President Estate Agents Association, Tahir Abbasi Chairman, Ahmad Khan President & Malik Naeen Secretary General F-10 Markaz, Asad Aziz President Jinnah Supermarket & Abdul Rehman Siddiqui Secretary General, Tahir Ayub Secretary General Wholesale Fruit Market, Ashfaq Chatha Former Vice President ICCI, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali Executive Member ICCI, Raja Hassan Akhtar President Blue Area, Shehzad Shabbir Abbasi President Supermarket, Yasir Abbasi from I-8 Markaz, Chaudhry Mukhtar, Umais Khattak, Raja Majeed Convener ICCI Administration Committee and Saif-ur-Rehman Khan Convener ICCI Police Committee were among the delegation.
Talking to the delegation, MCI Administrator Hamza Shafqat announced the formation of a five-member committee which would discuss and take decisions on trade license & board tax issues and would give suggestions to the Prime Minister for revocation of trade license. About the CDA Magistrate, Hamza Shafqaat said it is a fact that he has no notification for MCI so he should stop the hearing till the issuance of notification and not exceed the penalty given for the summary hearing in the law. He directed that at present the current year's tax should be levied while no institution other than DMA has the authority to collect the taxes. He said that the board tax has the same rate within the ICT limits and directed to collect professional tax from the current financial year.
Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi, former President ICCI and Convener MCI Committee of ICCI, said that all taxes should be collected from the current financial year. He said that the business community has reservations about placement of pushcarts in markets under Ehsaas Program and urged that the government should allocate a separate space for them by allotting them to locals only, instead of putting them in markets. He said that it was illegal for the union councillors to collect trade and board taxes from the traders which should be stopped and action should be taken against the self-made contractors.
Ajmal Baloch, President, All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran said that implementation of Ehsaas Pushcarts program threatens security in Islamabad, which should be reconsidered. He urged that encroachments from markets should be removed in cooperation with concerned market associations. The representatives of various markets also briefed the Administrator MCI about their key issues and gave suggestions for their solution.