BENGALURU: Various commerce and industry bodies from Bengaluru and Karnataka on Monday unanimously opposed the state government’s call for a week-long lockdown beginning from Tuesday.Stating that the government had not consulted industry before imposing the lockdown, FKCCI President C R Janardhan told reporters: “We are ready to take full responsibility, and if there are cases, we will announce a lockdown. But this decision is not wise, as already the 54-day lockdown has caused severe financial losses and the government had earlier assured us that there will be no lockdown.”
Members of Peenya Industries Association, Kassia, MSME sector and hotel association said that the industrial sector contributes 26 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product, with Bengaluru alone contributing 70 per cent to the GSDP. “We have already taken orders, and investors will move to other states if they are not completed on time. They may choose Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, where MSMEs and industries have been exempted from the lockdown. While the government is talking of reverse migration, it will happen only if industries are functioning,” they said.
The silk and jewellery industry associations said that with the festive season under way, a lockdown at this time will leave them penniless and the employees jobless.According to the hotel association, the government needs 3,000 hotel rooms and proper food to be given to patients in institutional quarantine. “How will they address the issue if the industry is affected by the lockdown?” they said.Kassia members pointed out that Covid-19 cannot be controlled by issuing orders sitting in Vidhana Soudha, and trade bodies must be involved for better management.