The Industries Association of Chandigarh took up the matter with the administration that the civic body instead of providing relief for lockdown in property tax had rather increased rate and raised faulty bills with arrears and interest spanning across 16 years.
Even after entering Unlock 2.0, our business is yet to pick up, complain Chandigarh industrialists.
There are about 2,500 industries in Chandigarh. M P S Chawla, president of Chandigarh Industrial Association, claims that several rates have been hiked, especially those by transporters in case of their vehicles going to hotspot areas.
“We already had shortage of labour. Those vehicle owners that would take, say, one sack for Rs 400, have revised their rates to about Rs 800 per sack. Those vehicles which have to go to hotspot areas like Mumbai are taking long time, so things have really changed,” he said.
Naveen Manglani, president of Chamber of Chandigarh Industries, maintains that the labour that mostly migrated to their areas was from the unorganised sector like those involved in loading or unloading.
“Those businesses here that deal in automobile parts or luxury items, bath fittings, furniture items have not been able to pick up even by 20 per cent since there is no demand. When there is no demand, there is a bearing on productivity. Those industries that deal in tractor parts are getting good business and those in railway parts have about 50 per cent business. Rest of them, as I said, have just 20 per cent business,” he said.
Manglani said that the trucks that would take Rs 5 per kg of goods are now charging Rs 8 per kg even for less quantity.
“Like there is a capacity to take 10 tonnes in a truck but at the moment, they are carrying just half of the goods due to less produce (because of less demand) but they are charging more. If earlier, it cost Rs 50,000 to send a truck with 10 tonnes, now it is costing Rs 80,000 to send about six tonnes,” he said.
Those industries that are manufacturing items that aren’t required on priority are suffering, they said.
“There isn’t much demand for luxury cars or furniture items or garments, bath fittings. And production during this time is dependent on demand which is quite less. We just hope the business picks up soon,” Manglani said.
Sending vehicles to containment zones is another challenge that the industrialists are facing. “If vehicles have to go to containment zones, it is taking a lot of time. Everything now has to be ensured. Sending stuff while ensuring proper sanitisation and what not. It has become a tedious task,” Chawla said.
INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION COMPLAINS
The Industries Association of Chandigarh took up the matter with the administration that the civic body instead of providing relief for lockdown in property tax had rather increased rate and raised faulty bills with arrears and interest spanning across 16 years. A tweet was sent out by the association.