Small industries feel the heat as production dropsThe ripples of the global meltdown are finally showing their effect in the city market. As production in most of the units plummeted to 50 per cent, the work hours has reduced considerably. Most of the factories close for the day by 3 pm or 4 pm.“Recession has affected more than 2 lakh units in the state but the state government is not bothered to bailout out the industry,” said Harish Khanna, President, Small-Scale Industries Association of Punjab.Chabra Industries owner Ajit Singh Chabra said, “The production in my unit is down by 50 per cent. The factory is not even running for 8 hours, what to talk of overtime. Earlier, we used to run our unit for 12 hours. Even workers were happy as I used to pay them for overtime accordingly. In the past, I used to face labour shortage and now I am not denying any leave to my workers. At the moment, I do not plan to lay off my staff.”Brij Mohan Nayyar, owner, Nayyar Industries, added, “Powercuts have compounded the problem. We are facing losses and if we run the unit on generators, it further adds to our cost.”Jagdish Monga, owner, Monga Industries, said, “I am running my unit at half its capacity.” It has been learnt that a number of units in the Focal Point have reduced their shifts and the staff strength has also been reduced considerably. “The export units are the worst hit,” said Khanna.The units’ members, however, stated that instead of giving some relief, the state is imposing 1% Construction Tax which will only add to the infrastructure cost. The members stated that state should interact with the industry and create a congenial atmosphere for their working.
