Farmers’ rail roko stir bleeds Ludhiana’s industrial sector

The industrial sector in Ludhiana continues to face hardships due to farmers’ stir at a time when businessmen are already reeling under losses due to shortage of labour amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ludhiana industry continues to face hardships as the recent strike and ‘rail roko’ agitations by farmers have spelt disaster on exports at a time when the businessmen are already reeling under losses due to shortage of labour and restrictions owing to the ongoing pandemic.

Ludhiana, known for its cycle, cycle parts and machine tools industry is in deep waters as not only are the shipments being delayed, the supply of goods from here to the rest of the country is also getting severely hampered owing to non-movement of trains at the ports.

The industry is facing a huge deficit of containers due to imbalance in import and exports at Ludhiana. The problem is so grave that the godowns used
to stock goods are full to capacity in absence of any movement
and the production is taking a toll.

President of United Cycle Parts and Manufacturers Association (UCPMA), DS Chawla said that the credibility of exporters is at stake. “Not only of cycles and cycle parts, but the rail roko agitation has also affected all types of exports in the state,” he said.

“Due to the ongoing pandemic, the supply of essential parts from China like spokes, steel valves have been severely hit. We are still facing a shortage of labour and now the farmers’ agitation has added to our woes. This delay will also raise the price of transportation now,” he said. President of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU), Upkar Singh Ahuja said that the sudden increase of freight and other expenses are adding to losses and mental agony of industrialists.

CICU has now written a letter to the PMO, ministry of commerce, ministry of MSMEs, and ministry of finance requesting their immediate intervention and highlighting the hardships being faced by exporters.

The major commodities contributing to imports into Ludhiana are metal scraps and waste paper for 20 feet and 40 feet containers, respectively.

Orders of metal scraps from Dubai dried up due to the ban on export by the supplier country amid the onset of Covid-19.

The import of waste paper also saw a steep fall due to the same reason. Consequently, exports are either in waiting or are forced to rely on the empty containers from Delhi or Mundra ports at an additional cost of ₹20,000 and ₹30,000 respectively per container.