CHENNAI: The decision not to reopen industries in the State has come as a damper for local businesses. BC Datta of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), says the industries had suggested opening of export-oriented sectors with just 40 per cent staff. However, this could not happen as most units are located on red zones — except in Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Pudukottai which are in the Green Zone and Kancheepuram which is in Orange zone.
Datta, who is also a vice-president at Hyundai, says the auto major is also unable to do much. Though Hyundai has its plant in Kancheepuram, which is in the orange zone, most of its labourers come from Tiruvallur, which is categorised as ‘red’. “We thought about getting labourers from green zones like Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri but officials refused permission.” Officials are sceptical of relaxing the lockdown, as it could cost lives.
“After holding discussions, it was decided to partially open the export-oriented units to meet their business target and utilise migrant labour for construction purposes. The suggestion was put before the Chief Minister. The final decision was taken by the CM after interacting with the health department officials, and keeping in mind the decision taken by other States’ Chief Ministers, who were in favour of extended lockdown rather than risking lives,” sources said.
However, Datta hopes that officials will relent on keeping the commercial service centres open to cater to the vehicles transporting essential services. It is learnt that the rise in cases in the last two days forced the State to reconsider lifting lockdown partially. “Currently, testing is happening in a large scale and during the last two days there has been a steep rise in corona cases. Our first priority is to save lives as epidemiologist have stated that the virus is infectious one,” official sources said.
It is learnt that only 1.5 per cent people have been tested till now, sources added. Meanwhile, sources told Express that the IT companies, which were allowed to function by Ministry of Home Affairs advisory with 50 per cent staff, have told the expert committee that they are okay with 90 per cent of their staff working from homes rather than coming to office. Many staff also informed Express that there has been no correspondence asking them to report to work.
City ports register 75% drop in trade volume
There has been a near 75 per cent drop in trade volumes in all three ports across the city - courtesy of the nationwide lockdown, says a report by Tamil Nadu Association of SEZ Infrastructure Developers (TASID). The report further states that the most impacted are electronic and automobile industries, because they mainly imported goods from China