E-Paper
14,000 curfew passes issued to industry in Ludhiana, 8,500 rejected
Deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the main reasons for rejections were that the applications were not found reasonable enough to be issued curfew passes.
As all industries have been exempted from the curfew restrictions, over 23,000 applications from industrialists, managers and employees of hundreds of manufacturing units in Ludhiana were received at the district industries centre (DIC).
Around 8,500 of these applications were rejected and curfew passes were issued to 14,000 employees and owners of factories.
Deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the main reasons for rejections were that the applications were not found reasonable enough to be issued curfew passes. “Motive is to check unwarranted movement. I appeal to everyone to avoid venturing out unnecessarily amid the rising Covid cases,” he said.
To issue such a large number of passes, around 30 staffers of the DIC office, R&D centre for bicycle and sewing machines as well as staff of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) were roped in.
Sharma had announced on Friday that industrial units will continue to function during curfew hours. As per the directions, labour shall be allowed to move on foot or on cycle if they produce an identity card issued by the industry which will be considered as a curfew pass.
On the other hand, all industrialists, managers, employees of industry moving in vehicles during curfew hours will have to carry the curfew pass issued by the general manager of District Industries Centre (DIC).
CICU chairman Upkar Singh Ahuja said there was a huge backlog of curfew passes which were issued on Sunday for smooth operations of factories in the district tomorrow.
Ludhiana is home to about 95,000 micro, small and medium industrial units (SMEs) and about 250 large-scale units.
