HYDERABAD: Leaders of the city`s business community and trade organisations on Friday expressed their dismay over Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah`s indifference to their woes even in the aftermath of the July 14 rain and the trail of destruction it has left.

Speaking to Dawn, they asserted that the CM, who did visit Hyderabad on Thursday, should have given them a hearing on theirissues.

They pointed out that the rainfall and ensuing flooding caused losses to them to the tune of millions of rupees `only due to failure of civic agencies to timely cope with the situation`.

They noted that the main drain of the area had not been cleared over the last few years and, therefore, the flooding devastated the entire city.They wanted to remind the CM that Hyderabad has one of Sindh`s largest wholesale markets and that the local businessmen and traders contributed heavily in terms of tax revenues.

`The CM did visit Hyderabad [on Thursday] but we didn`t know when he arrived and left,` said Adeel Siddiqui, a prominent industrialist who has headed the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hyderabad in the past and is currently an active member of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).

`It`s apparently CM`s indifference shown towards the city`s business and trade organisations. The cloth market has become prone to such disasters.

Traders face these losses ever year when monsoon turns rough. Why this drainage sort of problem is not being addressed?` he wondered.

Siddiqui said that this city had paidRs120bn in taxes which, when compared with the previous year`s Rs70bn, appearstobeupby80pc.

`We have passed 25 years of the 21st century and are still not able to address issues of just one bazaar that contributes hugely to the national exchequer in terms of taxes,` he lamented.

He said that the CM should sit with the business community and see how these issues in every major market could be addressed.

Muslim Cloth Merchants Union president Aslam Ayub and general secretary Haji Sharif also appeared disappointed.

`Around 450 shop owners have suffered tremendous losses when rainwater entered our market,` said Aslam Ayub.

He noted that the main open drain (nullah) had never been desilted over the last few years. This was the reason that the rainwater that entered our mar-ket could not be drained through this nullah.

This market is located in a low-lying area, which receives flows from elevate d neighbourhoods like Chetal Chari, Khaee Road, Khata Chowk etc. The market union has made its own arrangements for letting the runoff enter that drain. But this didn`t happen on July 14, according to him.

The union used its own pumping machines to drain out rainwater but by that the rainwater had already inflicted heavy losses to them in terms of damage to their stocks.

Haji Sharif seconded him, saying that five days had passed now but nobody bothered to even visit the market to hear their ordeal. `Had anyone helped us get a hearing from the CM, we would have shared our grievances with him which are of civic nature,` Haji Sharif contended.