Pakistan _ Boulton Market loss estimate curtailed to Rs3.8bn

Some ‘clever’ shopkeepers, in an effort to get the maximum from the govt, had exaggerated losses in the forms besides, projecting the total loss of over Rs30bn after violence, said sources. - File photo

KARACHI: The process of revision of losses suffered by the traders in Dec 28 violence coupled with duplication of claims have resulted in curtailing the losses figures to Rs3.7-3.8 billion from the earlier estimates of Rs8 to Rs10 billion.

Till Jan 15, 2010, over Rs8 billion worth of claims had been submitted by the affectees of the Boulton Market at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). That amount has been calculated on the basis of 2,145 survey (claim) forms received by the KCCI.

By Jan 20, which was the last date of filing claims, the KCCI had received 2,760 forms, of which 165 were duplicate.

Spokesman of the Karachi Affected Markets Relief Committee, A. Q. Khalil told Dawn the assessment of losses in rupee terms as per claims was still going on and it would take one or two days more to get the final figure.

“I think the amount of Rs3.7-3.8 billion as per claims received so far may further go down as the process of detecting of duplication in the forms is still going on,” he said, adding that he had anticipated stock losses of Rs10 billion but traders after given a solemn oath revised their loss amount.

“Around 40-45 per cent of the traders have revised the amount of losses compared to huge losses shown in the forms,” the committee’s spokesman said.

Sources said that some ‘clever’ shopkeepers, in an effort to get the maximum from the government, had exaggerated losses in the forms besides, projecting the total loss of over 30 billion after violence. After knowing that the amount arriving from the government would not exceed more than Rs4.5 billion, they decided to show real losses by revising the amount by more than 50 per cent from the previous figures.

Giving provisional figures, A.Q. Khalil said that 244 forms had been received under category of Rs100,000 or less, 720 forms under Rs500,000 or less, 564 forms of Rs1 million or less, 333 forms under category of Rs1.5 million or less and 641 forms of less than Rs5 million loss and 93 forms of more than Rs5 million. These are not final figures as counting of forms and assessment of losses is still going on,” he added.

The committee will meet on Jan 22, to get a final figure of stocks and merchandise losses and the process of giving cheques to the affectees would get underway from the last week of this month.

He said that the Karachi Affected Market Relief Fund has so far received Rs1.5 billion (Rs1 billion from the federal government and Rs500 million from the Sindh government).

Sources said that a city government representative in a meeting on Jan 8 had assured the KCCI for giving the claim forms, which it had received from the traders, to the chamber but so far no forms had been received.

Chairman Banking/Insurance committee of the KCCI, Ateeq-ur-Rahman urged the banks to extend soft loans free from collateral and interest to the Dec 28 victims at their earliest and without any further delay. He said he held meetings with the finance minister, State Bank’s higher ups and chairman Pakistan Banking Association.