LAHORE -  The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged the Punjab Food Authority to stop sudden raids on Ghee and Vanaspati Manufacturing Units and draw Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as businessmen are in deep trouble due to raids being conducted by the Authority.

While talking to the delegation of Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), LCCI President Abdul Basit said that businessmen have had serious reservations about the sudden raids and misuse of discretionary powers by the Punjab Food Authority.

The delegation members informed the LCCI President that Punjab Food Authority was not bothering to taking business into confidence. They said that presence of the representative of the concerned unit is a must while taking sample by the Authority but they were doing the other around. Even the businessmen have had no knowledge about the laboratory where samples were being tested.

The LCCI President said that situation would be good once Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are drawn by the Punjab Food Authority. He said that the LCCI was totally against corrupt elements in society and would continue to support every government action that was for the betterment of society at large, but would not favor the disturbance of smooth businesses.

He said that it is very unfortunate the authorities concerned had failed to evaluate the impact of raids on an industrial unit, “because it takes years to win reputation that goes into the drain in a matter of minutes”. He said that the raids would not only result in closure of businesses but also dent the government’s reputation, as hundreds of thousands of unskilled and skilled people would lose their jobs, who otherwise were earning their bread and butter respectfully.