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Amid confusion over lockdown rules, industries look at Bengal govt to restart production
Asked by the Bengal government to resume work with 15% workforce, the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) on Sunday asked all mills to send online applications to authorities for starting operations on Monday.
With no directives addressing problems faced by individual sectors, industries willing to resume production in West Bengal in a controlled manner from April 20 stared at unanswered questions on Sunday even as their counterparts in other states made elaborate plans.
Asked by the state government to resume work with 15% workforce, the Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) on Sunday asked all mills to send online applications to authorities for starting operations on Monday.
The notice was issued on Sunday by Debasish Roy, IJMA’s director-general. Roy did not say whether the top body of the jute industry was ready to resume production from Monday.
“We are awaiting permission from the government,” Raghavendra Gupta, IJMA’s chairperson, said on Monday morning.
IJMA members, however, said they were willing to restart work and follow safety guidelines but 15% workforce would lead to losses because so few people cannot run all machines.
According to IJMA, West Bengal has 69 jute mills that employ 250,000 people.
“The state government should understand the technical aspects. Only the IJMA can decide how many workers are needed to run a mill effectively,” Tapan Sen, the national general secretary of the Centre for Trade Unions (CITU), the labour arm of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said.
The bakery industry in the state has been affected badly with around 10 to 12% of the 2500 companies operating on a restricted scale, claimed Ariful Islam, chief executive of the West Bengal Bakers’ Association.
“Bakers in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai told us that they are operating without any hindrance. In Delhi, bread is even being supplied by the government among other relief materials,” Islam said.
“On one hand, we are being asked to operate as part of essential service while on the other, vehicles transporting bread are being stopped on highways for allegedly breaking lockdown norms. Today, for example, two vans were stopped in Howrah. This has been happening ever since the lockdown started,” Islam said on Sunday afternoon.
“How can we resume operation? The ones that are operating are supplying products only to the local areas. We have written to the Kolkata Police commissioner and director-general of the state police,” said Islam.
CITU’s Sen said that a part of the steel industry kept operating with a fraction of the workforce as furnaces cannot be shut down during the lockdown. He said firing steel furnaces and reaching the required temperature once they have cooled down are expensive and lengthy processes.
“The Durgapur Steel Plant was among many that did not stop operation. The steel sector should not have much problem resuming production but workers will face trouble reaching their workplace with public transport suspended,” Sen, a former member of the Rajya Sabha, said.
“With people in many areas affected and certain zones marked red, keeping public transport suspended is also a situational compulsion,” Sen added.
A cabinet minister, who did not wish to be named, said he was not aware whether the government will meet representatives of various sectors or issue any order on Monday.
An employee of a logistics company that runs Amazon’s sorting centre at Dankuni sad they have been handling only essential materials wearing protective gear, including personal protection suit and face shield.
“We were ready to handle non-essential goods as well but a circular was issued by the Union home ministry on Sunday saying supply of these by e-commerce companies will remain prohibited,” the employee said on condition of anonymity.
