Quick turnaround: From May low of 10%, worforce bounces back to 70%

Noida: After a difficult couple of months, industrial units in the city are back on their feet with about 70% workers returning to duty.
Noida Special Economic Zone (NSEZ), which has 180 active units, claims to be operating with 100% attendance and some companies have also had fresh recruitments.
“After the first wave last year, there was a total lockdown. Most daily wage earners were given two months’ salary and asked to go back home. This time, several labourers left for their hometowns in March around Holi and the panchayat polls. They started returning slowly from mid-May. Many families in the villages were hit by Covid this year and workers came back to support them,” said Anil Kumar, regional manager, Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC).
In May, attendance in factories had dropped to 10-20%. But the recovery was fast, industrial unit owners said. Noida’s industrial sector has garments, electronic goods, packaging and medical accessory manufacturing units.
According to the district administration, Noida and Greater Noida together have around 10 lakh factory workers engaged in over 10,000 units. “Last time, industries were affected for more than three months. This year, many firms supported workers and their families who were affected by Covid. We had also urged the workers to come back fast as our factories did not shut down. All this helped,” said Kulmani Gupta, president, Indian Industries Association (IIA), Noida.
According to Ajay Goel, president, Noida Special Economic Zone Welfare Association (NSEZWA), about a month back, there was shortage of workers at several units.
“But we ran an employment drive and filled up vacant positions. We are working at full strength now, which means we have 40,000 hands in the factories and around 10,000 employees who are working from home,” he added.
Anil Kumar, deputy commissioner of industries, Gautam Budh Nagar, said the main reason for a quick turnaround is that factories were not shut this time. “Those who went back, returned within days,” he added. “Around 70% of the workers are back in the city. The labour office has 7 lakh registered factory workers and there about 3 lakh non-registered ones. Now, almost 7 lakh workers are engaged in the industrial units.” Noida has about 10,000 factories in NSEZ, Surajpur and other industrial pockets.