ALI OUSAT, ZAMIR SHEIKH KARACHI A wheel-jam strike paralyses the city on Thursday and transporters vowed to continue the strike till their demand is accepted by the authorities concerned. President Karachi Transport Ittihad, Irshad Hussain Bukhari while talking to The Nation informed that the transporters body was informed by the federal minister that prices of the petroleum could not be changed while transporters can increase their fares, however Bukhari replied that the increment of fares is not easy task and ultimately the common people would bear this misery. Without concerning the miseries faced by million of ordinary citizens on Thursday, the tussle among the transporters and government continued and today (Friday) the Karachities would face the same again. Muhammad Hadi, 20, who is an employee of a local company as junior IT officer and sole bread-earner of his four members family emotionally informed, Today I could not reach office in time. I had to travel in a pick-up to reach office and they charged me Rs 20 more than normal fare. Basically it is also a way to take money from the pockets of the people. He assured that after two or three days strike, the transporters must call off it and would increase the fares, adding while the government also tried to break the back of the common people through price hike and now they increased the prices of petroleum products which is supposed to be a last straw to break the camels back. He demanded of the government on behalf of million of the common people to reconsider the prices of petroleum products so that the transporters may not increase the fares of the public transports. Less number of Green buses and CNG buses were plying on the roads and the rickshaw and taxi owners were charging extra fare from the commuters but the Karachiites endured great hardship to reach their destiny. Irshad Bukhari further informed that high-ranking officials such as Minister for Transport Akhtar Jadoon and Adviser to the Chief Minister Rashid Rabbani held discussions with transporters to resolve the issue, but the negotiations failed. He added that the transporters continued to hold certain reservations over the issue. Meanwhile, local transporters strike has dealt a sever blow to an already staggering economy. The production activities in various industrial zones in the city are working at 50 per cent of its capacity due to energy crisis and law and order situation. The partial strike on Thursday further affected the production activities and multiplied losses of industrial and commercial sectors. According to initial estimates, industrial and commercial house suffered losses to the tune of Rs 2 billion due to lack of attendance of technical staff and local truckers. Acting President Karachi Camber of Commerce and Industry, Talat Mehmood, said that during full strike the economy suffers losses of Rs 4 billion a day and as on Thursdays the strike was partial the losses are halved. The state of economy of Pakistan is in such a bad shape that the industries and business houses cannot afford to shut down their production activities even for one hour. The industries are already has a huge backlog to meet local and international orders and cannot sustain any further disruption in production. He expressed his dismay in the increase of POL prices and said it will overall adversely affect the national economy and will further slow down the wheel of industry. Increase in prices of oil will have a chain reaction. It will increase energy charges, raise charges of transportation of goods and multiply miseries of passengers who travelled by roads. It will further increase the cost of doing business and the prices of products manufactured locally would also increase and its impacts would be on local consumers. An industrialist Idress Gigi said that it is not possible for the industrialist to sustain production losses in present circumstances. We are already suffering huge losses due to power loadshedding in industrial areas and face difficulties in meeting deadline for the foreign importers. The option that government has selected to raise POL prices is untimely damaging the economy. The government has to retain old prices of POL if it wants economy to function smoothly and the masses get two square meals each day which has become difficult for the poor segment of the society. In view of Thursdays impending strike, some of the industrialist would not to allow their night shift staff to leave while some made arrangements to carry their workers. Former Chairman Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBAATI), Shahid Ismail, said that industry had suffered production and distribution problems. Meanwhile, Awami National Party (ANP) Sindh on Thursday announced to support the strike call of transporters association against the recent increase in petroleum products prices. In a statement issued from ANP Sindh Office, ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed welcomed the decision of transporters association to pressurise the government to withdraw the increase in petroleum products prices and not to put the burden of recent increase in POL prices on common people. He further said that ANP leadership was aware of the problems of masses and repeatedly suggested the government not to increase the POL prices and adopt other ways. He pointed out that the government has not taken parliamentary committee into confidence before the decision to increase in POL prices, saying that ANP cannot compromise on public issues. The transporters strike in the capital of the province has extremely diminished the attendance of students and employees in nearly all educational institutions. Disappearance of public transport on the road caused thin attendance in the educational institutions including Karachi University, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Arts, NED Engineering University, Dow University of Health Sciences. On the other hand, the office of the Arch bishop of Karachi, St. Patricks Cathedral, Karachi, has already announced that all educational institutions of the Catholic Board of Education will remain closed for three days against the brutal murder of federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti.