ISLAMABAD: The President of the All Pakistan Containers Association, Owais Chaudhry, has asserted that container owners have yet to receive payments for vehicles supplied during past protests and sit-ins, despite government statements indicating millions of rupees have been allocated for container rentals.
Chaudhry highlighted that while container owners provided vehicles for various demonstrations, their outstanding payments remain unsettled. He emphasized that the association has repeatedly sought a formal and transparent payment system from the government, but no such mechanism has been implemented to date.
He further noted that although the government claims certain payments have been made or are scheduled to be paid to container owners, the association lacks any clear evidence confirming that the rightful owners have actually received these funds.
In a significant development, Chaudhry pointed out that dues for containers used in earlier sit-ins also remain unpaid, an issue he has previously brought to public attention. He urged an inquiry into what he described as a potential discrepancy between the amounts recorded as paid in the names of container owners and the actual payments they have received.
Given ministers’ assertions about compensation disbursements, Chaudhry called for a transparent audit and investigation covering payments made for container rentals from 2013 onward.
Demanding direct compensation, he insisted that payments should be made straight to the owners whose vehicles were taken into government custody, rather than routed through associations, contractors, or third parties. He stressed the need for the government to maintain clear records detailing the number of containers each owner provided, the duration of their use, and the corresponding amounts owed.
Chaudhry also highlighted a notable inconsistency between government-reported expenditures on container rentals and other security-related costs during protests and the owners’ claims of unpaid dues. He urged relevant government departments to publicly disclose their payment records to resolve these discrepancies.
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