‘Operate buses to bring back workers to industrial units’

Coimbatore: Representatives of Coimbatore Industrial Associations Forum, a federation of micro and small industry associations in the city, petitioned district collector K Rajamani on Thursday, urging to operate buses to transport the workers, who were stuck in their native districts, back to the district. They also sought a direction to banks to provide them the collateral-free loans as promised by the Centre.
Pointing out that many workers of micro and small units were from southern districts of the state, the members said they were stuck in their homes because of lockdown. “While the units have been permitted to resume operations, we are not able to function properly in the absence of enough workforce. We don’t have the wherewithal to bring them in private vehicles. So, we urge the district administration to operate buses to bring our workers back,” a representative of the forum said.
Referring to the Rs 3 lakh crore relief package that was announced by the Centre for industries, they said collateral-free loans were part of that. They said banks were, however, not issuing them loans, citing they were yet to get the guidelines. “Only if we get the loans in time, we could tide over the crisis. The district administration should take steps to ensure us loans.”
They said the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has been levying reliability charge and belated payment surcharge on them for delay in paying power tariff, despite the state allowing them time to pay the same. They said the late charges that have been collected from them should be returned to them.