The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday said that as many as 4,802 industrial units are operational during the lockdown in the Union territory.
As the administration is fighting to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, it has implemented several precautionary and preventive measures, a spokesperson said. The lockdown that was imposed from March 25 has left a deep impact on the social and economic sectors.
Director of industries and commerce department Anoo Malhotra said that the department is ensuring hassle-free operation of food processing industries, flour mills, milk product industries etc. She said that the agro-industries have been allowed to function during these times, considering the seasonal nature of the agricultural sector.
“In addition to these the pharma units have also been allowed to run to ensure there is no shortage of life-saving medicines in the market. Packaging units that cater to essential commodity units are also kept functional,” she said in an official statement issued here.
“As of today 4,802 units, (2,727 in Jammu division and 2,075 in Kashmir division) are functional including large scale, MSMEs and micro enterprises,” she added.
The government has allowed the industries to work at 30% of their staff strength, except the pharma sector which has been allowed to function at 60% of its staff strength, she said.
However, Jammu Federation of Industries on Tuesday appealed to lieutenant governor GC Murmu to save the industrial sector of J&K with a request to provide immediate financial support to the ailing sector, which is suffering due to the lockdown.
{{/usCountry}}However, Jammu Federation of Industries on Tuesday appealed to lieutenant governor GC Murmu to save the industrial sector of J&K with a request to provide immediate financial support to the ailing sector, which is suffering due to the lockdown.
{{/usCountry}}Chairman of federation Lalit Mahajan said that due to the lockdown, there was a sharp decline in the sales turnover for the last 50 days due to which the unitholders were not in a position to pay salaries for April, bank interest, power dues, and other dues.
Mahajan reminded L-G of a task force that has been constituted by the government to provide immediate relief to the industrial sector, tourism, hotel industry, hospitality sectors, etc with the timeline for the submission of recommendations by May 15.
“But to date, no relief is provided to the industrial sector resulting in the uncertainty that prevails in the minds of unitholders. We fear that we may have to close down our units which in turn will cause mass-scale retrenchment of the workforce,” he said.
He requested the L-G to announce a relief package for industries.