Small industries await workers from southern districts to resume full ops

Coimbatore: With the state on Sunday announcing that industries can begin functioning with full workforce, representatives of micro and small industries in the district said they were gearing up to resume functions even as employee availability remains a concern.
A major chunk of their workforce is stuck in southern districts, their homes. Industrialists said that the ‘unlocking’ and allowing industries to function with 100% workforce will prove useless unless the state government operates buses freely between different ‘zones’ as notified by the government, so that their workers can reach the city.
“Only if the state operates buses freely between different zones, workers from southern states can come back to the city and industries can resume their functions,” said an industrialist.
Micro and small industries in the district are currently running with only around half of their workforce. Workers from southern districts of the state had returned to their homes at the beginning of the lockdown and are currently unable to report for work without proper transport facilities. A significant portion of guest workers from north India — around 30% by some estimates — have already left for their home states in special trains operated for them.
J James, district president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Tiny Enterprises, said, “Big industries can bring back their workers in their own vehicles. But workers of small industries have to apply for e-passes, whose procedure many are not aware of. So the state has to operate buses for them without such hassles.”
S Surulivel, president of Railway Suppliers Association, said they have been working with 60% of their workforce since being allowed to operate earlier this month. “If the state government freely operates buses between zones in the coming week, workers from southern districts can come back sooner,” he said.