{"id":18690,"date":"2025-09-10T00:04:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=18690"},"modified":"2025-09-10T00:04:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:04:18","slug":"govt-shuts-usc-to-prevent-another-pia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=18690","title":{"rendered":"Govt shuts USC to prevent &#8216;another PIA&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Prime Minister&#8217;s Special Assistant on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan has said the government decided to close down Utility Stores Corporation (USC) operations to prevent it from turning into &#8220;another PIA,&#8221; a move that has affected 6,000 employees.<\/p>\n<p>The National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production met in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss the closure. Industries and Production Secretary Saif Anjum and Haroon Akhtar attended the session.<\/p>\n<p>Anjum informed the committee that all USC operations had been shut down in line with the government&#8217;s July 31 deadline. He added that relief packages for employees had been approved and would be disbursed within 15 days.<\/p>\n<p>Akhtar Khan said the closure was decided &#8220;with a heavy heart,&#8221; adding: &#8220;Nowhere in the world do governments run businesses. If it does, losses are inevitable.&#8221; He further clarified that the International Monetary Fund had directed the government to either reduce losses or shut down USC operations.<\/p>\n<p>The government shut down USC due to financial constraints, resulting in the termination of 6,000 employees.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said widespread corruption and the burden of subsidies made the organisation unsustainable. &#8220;We needed Rs20 to 25 billion to run Utility Stores for two more years,&#8221; an official told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production.<\/p>\n<p>When committee member Mahesh Kumar asked for the decision to be reconsidered, Industries and Production Secretary Anjum responded that all operations had already ceased.<\/p>\n<p>Akhtar Khan also called for deliberations on reviving Pakistan Steel Mills with Russian assistance, adding that a decision would be finalised by the end of the month. &#8220;If any institution is being revived, the government makes every effort for it,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister&#8217;s Special Assistant on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan has said the government decided to close down Utility Stores Corporation (USC) operations to prevent it from turning into &#8220;another PIA,&#8221; a move that has affected 6,000 employees. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production met in Islamabad on Tuesday to discuss [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}