Bizmen to approach HM Shah to get factories in MLU areas open

Ludhiana: Concerned over the delay in the opening of factories in non-designated industrial areas, Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisations (FICO) has now decided to approach Union home minister Amit Shah.
According to the representatives of the association, they will now seek help of Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal to raise this issue with Shah and seek relief for the micro and small industry based in the mix land use (MLU) areas.
Gurmeet Singh Kular, president of FICO, said, “Government of Punjab has allowed the industries outside the city limits as well as in designated industrial focal points to operate, most of the industries are being opened. Meanwhile, the industries in MLU areas are still closed as the ministry of home affairs guidelines have not given the permission for them. So, we have decided to approach home minister Amit Shah and request him to allow the opening of factories in MLU areas and we will urge union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and seek her help in conveying our demand to home minister. We also want commercial establishments to be opened because factories are being opened after around 40-45 days, the industry will be having lot of repair and maintenance work to do, for that we need the commercial establishments like hardware suppliers, electric and electronic equipment suppliers, oil & lubricant suppliers to open. Even if they open for four hours a day, it will be of great help to us.”
According to Rajeev Jain, general secretary of FICO, there are thousands of factories in MLU areas in Ludhiana like Janta Nagar, New Janta Nagar, Shimlapuri, New Shimlapuri, Dashmesh Nagar, Dhuri Line, Dholewal, Partap Nagar and Vishwakarma Colony, which are registered by Udyog Aadhaar and have been working for the last 60 years. “These are located in very tiny areas ranging from 50 square yards to 100 square yards. Moreover, these units fall under the tiny & micro segment, which operates on limited number of staff, where the social distancing is very easy to observe. Moreover, the small units are the vendors of the large units and supply mandatory goods to large units, if small do not run, then running of large units is also difficult. So, it is requested to allow the MLU industry also to operate when the other industries will be permitted,” he added.