Times News NetworkLudhiana: Staring at huge losses due to costlier electricity and raw material, some of the local manufacturers met Punjab Large Industrial Development Board (PLIDB) chairman Pawan Dewan and Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) chairman KK Bawa on Sunday to seek relief.They told them about labour shortage in the factories.
United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association former president Inderjit Singh Navyug said: “More than a year of fighting coronavirus pandemic and losing human lives has made it difficult for businesses to recover to the older levels.
At start of this year, we had a bit of a revival but the second wave washed away its gains.
What is worse, our sales crashed fully, while the input cost increased manifold.”Navyug claimed that the recent increases in the wages and fuel cost had disturbed the industry, leaving it no option but to ask the government for help.
He hoped that the PLIDB and PSIDC chairmen will convey the manufacturers’ concerns to the government.” PLIDB chief Pawan Dewan said: “The Centre’s anarchic decisions of increasing the cost of petrol and diesel and imposing a complex GST system increased the formalities of running day-to-day businesses.
The Punjab government led by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh will support the industry.
The CM and the industry minister will find a solution.”PSIDC chief K K Bawa said: “Trade and industry are in a very bad phase, so they need support from both the state and the Centre to survive.
It is almost certain that the Centre will help not the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) but only select corporate houses, the state will come to the rescue of the MSMEs, so the businessmen need not worry on account of the rates of power or raw material, or the shortage of labour.”