Rajkot namkeen makers face staff shortage as demand spikes 200%

Nimesh Khakhariya | TNN | Apr 21, 2020, 04:21 IST

Namkeen production had gone down at least by 10%

Rajkot: Two of the major packaged namkeen manufacturers based out of Rajkot — Gopal Namkeen and Balaji Wafers — are facing severe staff shortage at a time when demand for their product has shot up by 200%. They have sought help from the district administration to get more workers.
The namkeen makers said that currently they were operating with 15% manpower but need to ramp up production to cater to rising demand. The companies are also facing problems at the distribution end as dealers are not able to deliver the goods to retailers because of lack of passes to ferry vehicles.
Talking to TOI, Bipin Hadvani, founder director of Gopal Namkeen said, “While the demand has shot up by 200% our the production had gone down by at least 10% because of shortage of staff.”
“Our unit at Metoda GIDC can accommodate more than 600 people. But we are facing problem in transporting them to the factory. We have asked district collector to allow us to transport the staff to our factory,” Hadvani added.
Gopal Namkeen produces 80-90 tonne of namkeen per day with limited staff that has been staying inside the factory premises.
Another national player Balaji Wafers is also facing similar problem.
Mihir Virani, director of Balaji Wafers said, “Currently 40-50 of our staff members are living inside the factory premises since the lockdown began. The production is being done with only 20% of the manpower. We tried to get movement passes for other staff, but we did not get the permission. We have requested district authority to allow us to transport the staff in a bus and adhering to all the safety norms.”