ISLAMABAD: It was around 1 pm on Thursday when federal minister for Industries and Production, Khusro Bukhtiar, reached outside Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in Karachi for its visit. The minister was accompanied by incumbent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) , Brig (R), Shuja Hassan and Corporate Secretary, Shafiq Anjum, but he faced utter embarrassment when could not entre the mills through the maingate as a good number of PSM sacked workers had gathered outside it to record their protest to the visiting minister over their forced retrenchment. Seeing ugly scens at the maingate, the management decided to take the minister into the mills through a backside gate.
The protestors continued to protest outside the maingate without knowing that the minister had already left the mills after its secret visit through what the protestors called ” chor ” gate.
PSM has turned into a nighrmare for the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government The PTI top leadership had promised to make PSM operational, but after coming into power, the same party started to retrench its workers. The PTI government like two previous regime is either confused in the case of PSM or it is intentionally damaging this crucial strategic asset.
PSM is shut since 2010 and its accumulative loss and liabilities have surged to Rs 600 billion plus and despite causing such a huge loss to the national economy, PSM is non-operational.
Unfortunately, PSM is non-operational when steel and its products prices have gone irrationally higher and damaging the government initiative of bringing revolution in housing sector. The steel prices have gone up to Rs 175,000 a ton in the market and had PSM not shut down it would have played a critical role to meet the steel demand of the country and at the same time kept the steel products prices at a reasonable level.
Stakeholders Group Chairman, Mumraiz Khan, alleged that a mafia headed by Arif Habib was instrumental in bringing to PSM to a junkyard.
Talking to NEWSMAN by phone from Karachi on Thursday, Mumraiz Khan said “I can say with full confidence that like previous regimes, PTI government was in the influnce of a mafia comprising Arif Habib, Aisha Steel and many others and on the behest of this mafia the ministry of Industries and Production was destroying PSM.. He said Stakeholder Group has a strategy to make PSM functional and profitable , but the mafia patronised by the ministry of Industries and Production was not taking its proposals seriously.