KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ruled that the ban on the entry of heavy traffic in the port city would remain intact.

Sunday (today) is the seventh day of the goods transporters’ strike, which has now started to lead to concerns of a price hike with Ramazan around the corner. Industry insiders believe that freight charges will consequently shoot up, bumping up variable expenditures, which will likely end up inflating the retail prices.

Transporters had resorted to a strike to protest the ban on heavy vehicles’ entry into the city. As a result, goods worth millions of rupees are lying in warehouses.

Traders, industrialists and manufacturers alike have slammed the strikers for causing a bottleneck in the supply of basic necessities and imported goods.

A two-judge bench of SHC asked for names of the committee representing all stakeholders and ordered that the body present its recommendations at the next hearing.

During the hearing, the counsel for the Karachi Port Trust informed the court that there had been a loss of Rs4 billion owing to the strike by the heavy vehicles’ association.

Meanwhile, a report submitted in the court by the DIG for traffic stated that 765 vehicles had been impounded on the court orders.