Jharkhand: Adityapur industries set to resume production by next week as govt gives nod for oxygen usage

JAMSHEDPUR: Following the state government’s approval to use oxygen cylinders in industrial activities earlier this week, around 900 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Adityapur are expected to resume production by next week after being shut for nearly two months.
Ever since the second wave of Covid-19 struck Jharkhand in April, the state government had to divert the supply of oxygen cylinders to hospitals from the industries, thereby forcing the latter to stop production.
“Industrial production was stopped abruptly after the supply of oxygen cylinders was stopped to industries and as a consequence, entrepreneurs and workers had to sit idle at home without work for the past two months,” factory owner Mahesh Sonthalia said.
The SMEs, which consist of a large chunk of Tata Motors’ ancillary units, require 2,000 units of oxygen cylinders every day. “There are about 100 fabrication-linked factories where the requirement for oxygen is pretty high while other factories, including several Tata Motors’ ancillaries, require around two to 10 cylinders per day,” entrepreneur Parveen Sonthalia said.
“Nearly 90% of the SMEs need to use oxygen cylinders for manufacturing activities as it is a raw material for the industry,” Adityapur Small Industries Association (ASIA) president Inder Agarwal said.
On May 31, the Department of Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which is a unit of Union Ministry of Commerce and Trade, issued orders to all the states, asking them to take appropriate steps for resuming the supply of oxygen cylinders to industries, following which the state industries department on June 1 gave its approval for the use of oxygen cylinders in the production activities.
“On May 21, we had written to the additional secretary of DPIIT, following which the officials concerned took the decision in our favour after consultation with different agencies of the government,” Agarwal said.
He thanked Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Poddar for being instrumental in pursuing the case with the Union government.
Entrepreneur Vijay Anand Moonka, who had sent a tweet to chief minister Hemant Soren on May 24 seeking his approval for resuming the supply of oxygen cylinders to industries, said the purpose was to resume industrial activity so that everyone involved in the manufacturing process can get back to work. “The welfare of thousands of workers depends on the resumption of production activities and that is why I reached out to the CM,” Moonka, who is also the vice-president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, added.
Although the industries have suffered huge losses during the two-months-long shutdown, the entrepreneurs refrained from divulging the total amount of the loss incurred. “Commercial activities take a backseat when it comes to saving the lives of thousands of Covid patients. Estimating the production loss is a foolish thing to do in the current situation,” entrepreneur and ASIA functionary Santosh Khetan said.
Meanwhile, ancillary worker S K Sarkar said, “Several companies paid the staff a lumpsum amount during the shutdown period. I just hope the company will call us back when production resumes.”