BHUBANESWAR: Faced with liquidity crunch due to Covid-19 lockdown, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of the State have urged the Centre and the State Government to take care of the wage burden of their staff who are covered under Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) scheme.
“Staff salary and labour cost are one of the components which remain binding on the employer to take care. But unless there is any source of revenue inflow, it becomes a liability for the promoters. The Government should take necessary steps to pay the staff salary and wages of labourers during the lockdown period,” said Juggernaut Association of Entrepreneurs.
In a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the association of MSME requested that the Government should make special provisions for payment of salary and wages of employees covered under ESI scheme.
Welcoming the relief measures announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for taking care of the EPF contribution of employees as well as employers for three months, the industries body requested the Centre to raise the cap on employees from 100 to 200 per unit and salary cap from `15,000 to `20,000.
“The Government may kindly consider payment of ESI contribution of both employers and employees for next six months. Besides, under Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) of ESIC, the Government should use the ESIC fund to compensate employers to enable them to pay workers for next six months,” the memorandum said.
“With the revenue streams drying up in the wake of lockdown, we are finding it difficult to pay the salaries of the employees as directed by the Government. We will not be able to pay the employees’ salaries without financial support from the Government,” said president of the association Janardan Sahoo.
The MSMEs, one of the worst-affected sectors as bulk of them survive on daily cash collections, further requested the Government to allow the sector to adjust the loss of work during the lockdown period against overtime wages or compensatory holidays once the lockdown is over.
Seeking relief on taxes, the MSMEs requested the Government to relax the payment of GST for three months from March to May with an extension of three more months for making payments without interest and penalty. The entrepreneurs have also urged the Centre to direct the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission for nationwide policy on payment of energy charges with waiver of fixed charges during the lockdown period.