KARACHI: Customs authorities have decided to break the locks of PIA sheds so that the air trade could be restored, which was suspended after PIA employees went on strike.
An official said the sheds were locked as PIA employees were on strike, therefore clearing and forwarding could not be carried on. Since, the situation is adversely impacting the trade, Customs authorities have decided to break the locks of these PIA sheds and proceed with the clearing.
A lot of goods imported through air including medicine, machinery parts and raw materials are locked in these sheds.
Additional Collector Tahir Qureshi and Deputy Collector Jahanzaib Abbasi have sought the approval of Collector Preventive Tariq Huda in this regard.
Employees are protesting against the PIA ordinance. Paving the way for its privatisation, the government earlier this month converted PIA into a company through the ordinance promulgated by the president. Though the PIA management and the government insist that the conditions for its employees would remain unchanged, the workers’ unions and the opposition parties criticised the move.
The management claimed that the airline employees in every grade and category would stand transferred to the company, PIA Company Limited, with the same designation and on the same terms and conditions as they held in PIA Corporation. However, the assurances fall short to convince workers and their associations which vowed to continue their protest.