VIJAYAWADA: Stating that flex printing industry plunged into crisis following the government’s hasty decision of imposing a ban on vinyl banners, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh urged the government to postpone the implementation of ban at least by a year so as to allow the owners of flex printing units to upgrade their machinery.
In an open letter addressed to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday, he said it would cost around `15 lakh to turn the existing flex unit as cotton flex unit and urged the government to provide subsidised loans to the owners.
Accusing the Chief Minister of causing severe harm to the environment by encouraging sand and mining mafias, Lokesh felt that it would have been better if he controlled the mafias run by YSRC leaders to protect nature instead of banning flex banners hastily.
Stating that there are around 1,500 flex printing units across the State and the owners invested from `10 lakh to `30 lakh on each unit after availing bank loans, the TDP MLC said at a time when they were finding it hard to pay the monthly loan instalments, the decision on banning vinyl banners from November 1 caused irreparable damage to them.
He advised the government to constitute a committee with officials to study the issues of the flex printing unit owners as about 7 lakh people are dependent on the industry for their livelihood.