The industrial belt of Pune is all set to resume operations after an extended lockdown. The Maharashtra state industries department and Pune district collectorate have permitted industries that are not in any of the containment zones of Pune to re-start operations. The automotive hubs of Chakan-Talegaon and Ranjangaon fall in these areas and will see resumption of production operations. Bajaj Auto, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hyundai and Bosch are among the companies which will be able to restarting operations from Tuesday. Earth-moving equipment company Sany India located in Chakan and SAP Parts in Sanaswadi were among those to take their first step to resume operations on Monday.
S Survase, joint director of industries, Maharashtra state government, had an interaction with industry representatives on Sunday asking them to restart production and formulate plans to open again. Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram on Monday permitted industries in the district that are located outside the containment clusters to begin operations. Companies outside the Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits need not wait for any formal permissions or passes and can right away start operations, he said. However, workers or employees living in any of the containment areas will not be permitted to travel. Companies would have to arrange dedicated transport to ferry their employees and labour force to work. Labour, too, will have to come from beyond the municipal limits of Pune city.
Arvind Goel, MD and CEO, Tata AutoComp Systems, and chairman of CII Maharashtra state, said while there was clarity at the top level of government as far as Maharashtra state industries department and MIDC were concerned but it was not the same at the ground level. Goel said industry was not able to start in right earnest as the local tehslidar and police were interpreting things differently and companies will have to deal with multiple agencies so re-starting would be difficult. Not everybody will start till there is greater clarity as industry does not have the appetite to fight with so many agencies, Goel said.
If companies in the containment zone cannot start, the entire chain cannot be completed so the state and local government should look at micro containment clusters rather than the entire zone, Goel suggested. Tata Motors, for instance, has its plant in the PCMC area at Pimpri and it cannot start operations, so their suppliers, too, cannot start operations, Goel pointed out. So, this was not practical and the entire system will have to operate at the same time. Companies such as Maruti and Hyundai cannot start operations unless supplier companies in Pune start operations, but they will not keep waiting for a long time for industry to start and will look for alternatives which will mean business would go away, Goel warned. If companies do not start now, many of them will never be able to start ever again and this will be suicidal, he said.
People will lose jobs and those with jobs may not get salary for April if operations do not start in May, Goel said. Even if they start, they can start with only 25-30% capacity and it will take three to four months to fall in line. So, it was best for the government to look at microzones and cordon off those areas only and not cordon entire industries like this, Goel suggested.
