Covid curbs relaxation: Factories to run at limited capacity

The conditional relaxations announced by the Centre focus on the rural sector and daily-wage earners and do not apply to so-called hotspot districts where most of the coronavirus cases have been detected.

State governments are expecting 10 to 25% of industries to restart operations on Monday in the first easing of lockdown measures for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as part of a staggered reopening of the economy, multiple officials said on Sunday.

The order may help industries to find workers. A large number of workers have left for their home states after the 21-day lockdown was enforced from March 25.(HT file photo)

The ministry of home affairs (MHA), in guidelines issued on April 15, allowed special economic zones (SEZs), and Export Oriented Units (EoUs), industrial estates and industrial townships to reopen before the extended lockdown ends on May 3. Restrictions have been eased on industries located in rural areas rural areas as well.

The conditional relaxations announced by the Centre focus on the rural sector and daily-wage earners and do not apply to so-called hotspot districts where most of the coronavirus cases have been detected.

On Sunday, the MHA said migrant workers stranded across states should be allowed to work in industries depending on their skills, reiterating that no inter-state transport will be allowed.

The order may help industries to find workers. A large number of workers have left for their home states after the 21-day lockdown was enforced from March 25. “Finding skilled workers among stranded labourers may not be easy,” said an industry leader from Rajasthan.

Most industry leaders also said they were bracing for teething problems in the first few days of reopening and expecting production to reach up to 50% of capacity by the first week of May.

Punjab’s industry minister Sunder Sham Arora said more than 40% of the industrial units would resume their operations within this week albeit at reduced capacities. Andhra Pradesh’s special chief secretary for industries Rajat Bhargava said the capacity of industries was expected to gradually increase in the next fortnight.

“Don’t’ expect a miracle. Kick-starting economic activity in a lockdown is more difficult than shutting it,” said an official of the Madhya Pradesh industries department on condition of anonymity.

In Maharashtra, which has the highest number of Covid-19 cases for any state in India, chief minister Uddav Thackeray on Sunday allowed industriy to resume work in 20 of the total 36 districts, which either don’t have any coronavirus cases or have very few cases.

“We are allowing industrial operations in limited capacity from Monday where the employers are ready to bear the responsibilities of the stay, food and transportation of the employees,” the CM said.

Industries in rural areas have also been allowed. Maharashtra has 1.026 million registered micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, of which around 450,000 are in areas where operations are being allowed from Monday.

Punjab government officials are not expecting more than 12% of industries to start operations because most industrial units are in Covid-19 hotspots. Punjab’s home department has made it mandatory for all categories of industries employing 10 or more persons to make transport arrangements for their workers or accommodate them on their factory premises.

“We don’t expect more than 10-12% of industrial units to resume operations in the next two-three days. Also, our containment zones are mostly in industrial towns,” said a senior government official, who did not want to be named.

SAS Nagar (Mohali), Jalandhar, Patiala, Ludhiana and Amritsar districts, where most of the small and medium industries are located, account for 65% of the 234 Covid-19 cases discovered in the state.

In Uttar Pradesh, industry leaders were not sure whether partial lifting of lockdown will help in running their units efficiently.

“We have conveyed to the government about problems which we are facing in restarting our units {in UP}. It will not be easy for us to resume production,” said Pankaj Kumar, national president, Indian Industries Association, an industry lobby for MSMEs units.

In the MSME segment, around 950,000 industrial units are registered in the state. Out of these, around 6,656 units are listed in the essential goods category and 5,720 are operational. All of them are working at less than half of their capacity, officials said.

Suresh Aggarwal, president of the Federation of Rajasthan Trade and Industry (FORTI), said he was not expecting more than 25% of the industries employing about 2.5 million workers to resume work on Monday.

Rajasthan was the first state to notify conditions for a “modified lockdown” from Monday, which allowed running of all industries in rural areas; industrial areas established in municipal corporation or municipality limits, export- based units, and in special economic zones to function. Workers should be accommodated in on factory premises or nearby, the order said.

“As per the conditions laid down by the government, masks and sanitizers are a must, which have not reached the industries. In such circumstances, it will not be wise to start the operations,” Agarwal said, expecting industries dealing with garments, mills (oil, flour,grains), health and surgical, plastic and packaging to start functioning in single shifts.

In eastern India, the Jharkhand government has given permission to several big industrial units such as Tata Steel and Tata Motors in Jamshedpur and Dalmia Cement in Bokaro to start operations. Officials said all major steel, mining and cement factories have been allowed to operate.

However, around 1,200 industries in Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority (AIADA)---the biggest industrial cluster in the state---will have to wait another 10 days for reopening. “All industries in rural areas are allowed. For others, we have given permission to most essential industries with specific guidelines to be followed for restarting 30% of their operation/production,” said A Dode deputy commissioner of the Seraikela-Kharsaawn district, where many industries are situated.

In neighbouring Bihar, the government expects about 3,000 of the total 25,000 small industries to start functioning in rural areas and industrial belts on Monday, benefitting about 15,000 workers, government officials said. Principal secretary (industries), S Siddhartha, said industrial units will have to procure passes for their personnel tarting operations. and government officials have been deputed to facilitate the process. Dome 1,750 units located in 52 industrial areas and parks, set up by state’s industrial development authority, have been permitted to resume work, another official said.

Andhra Pradesh’s special chief secretary for industries said 50 to 60% of 107,000 industries that are outside the 97 designated red zones in the state are expected to operate from Monday. Bhargava said the government had permitted software companies to run with 50% of employees and hardware units with 100 % “But most of these IT companies are located in red zones like in Visakhapatnam,” he said.

“On the first day, we are hoping that 10% of industries might start their plants and gradually, the number of industries that commence works might go up in a phased manner. It will take a week to 10 days to stabilise,” Bhargava added.

The 36 industrial areas in Goa would start functioning from tomorrow with 33% staff working in staggered shifts, officials said.