Punjab industries remain lukewarm despite govt go-ahead

The 2,200-odd factories manufacturing essential goods, which were permitted to resume operations by the state government earlier, have continued to operate, but very few other industrial units came forward to seek permission to resume their operations in all the districts, except Ludhiana, on day two of the easing of the coronavirus lockdown norms

A day after it allowed industrial activities in non-containment areas in line with the Union home ministry guidelines, the Punjab government drew a lukewarm response from industries in the state.

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The 2,200-odd factories manufacturing essential goods, which were permitted to resume operations by the state government earlier, have continued to operate, but very few other industrial units came forward to seek permission to resume their operations in all the districts, except Ludhiana, on day two of the easing of the coronavirus lockdown norms.

The officials of industries department received a few queries from local industries in some districts, but there were hardly any applications received from units for permission to resume production even with limited capacities. Around 60 applications were received through email In Ludhiana, where permissions were granted to resume production to 842 units in the past three weeks. “We have been getting these many requests for permission daily from mostly factories manufacturing essential items. Those which fulfil the norms are granted permission to operate,” Mahesh Khanna, general manager, district industries centre, Ludhiana, said.

Barring spinning mills and some other medium and large units, most other industries in Ludhiana, which is home to 95,000 registered units, have decided not to resume operations. In other districts such as Amritsar, Patiala, Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran, the number of queries ranged from three to 12 throughout the day. Darshan Singh, general manager, DIC, Bathinda, said he had received a few requests and would put up the file to the deputy commissioner after all formalities were complete. Punjab has a total of 2.52 lakh registered units.

However, industries director C Sibin said the response in the first couple of days would not be the correct way to read the situation. “The government gave the go-ahead for allowing industrial activities in non-containment areas on Monday. The actual picture will become clear in one week’s time. Also, we are taking steps such online approvals to streamline the process,” he said. The state has 35 containment zones in 13 districts and five industrial districts of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and SAS Nagar (Mohali) account for two-thirds of the coronavirus cases.

The Union home ministry had on April 15 issued detailed guidelines allowing factories in rural areas, special economic zones, industrial townships, and industrial estates, besides export-oriented units (EoUs), in non-Covid hotspots and containment zones to reopen from April 20 onwards. However, the state government kept going back and forth for three days by first imposing stricter conditions related to boarding and loading of workers and transport on all categories of industries and then totally refusing to lift any curbs before giving the clearance for easing of the curfew norms.

These flip-flops and stringent norms apart, industry leaders, battered by the month-long coronavirus-induced lockdown, continue to harbour doubts about the restoration of the broken supply chain, dip in demand and raw material. “Bulk and retail markets are shut in most parts of the country except for those selling essentials. If anyone resumes production, the problem is where is he going to sell and payments are also an issue,” PHDCCI (Punjab) ex-chairman RS Sachdeva said.

‘APPLY ONLINE, START OPERATIONS’

Industries minister Sunder Sham Arora said the industrial units which want to start operations can apply online, take permission and start operations. “The industries department has started the online approval system to facilitate them during the curfew period. The general managers of District Industries Centres have been authorised by deputy commissioners to issue the permissions,” he said in a statement. He said online facility would reduce the time and also dispense with the physical visits to offices for obtaining the permissions.

Blurb: Industry leaders apprehensive about starting operations as they don’t find any market to sell the goods