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MSME suggestion: do not hurry to resume the industry!
Posted on: 24/Apr/2020 10:52:03 PM
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has appealed to its members not to be in a hurry to resume functioning mainly due to the reasons that stringent controls and regulations have been imposed in the interior part of the country as a preventive measure against the raging coronavirus pandemic throughout the country!
The 1st Phase of lockdown as a preventive measure against virus spread was announced from 25th March to 14th April. Subsequently, in the 2nd Phase, the lockdown has been extended until 3rd May. This has affected the micro/mini/small and medium industries extremely severely!
Lakhs of employees in this sector have lost their jobs! Though permission has been given to resume functioning of mini/micro industries, stringent regulations have been imposed at the state level.
Even if one of the employees gets affected by a coronavirus, a case will be filed on the company owner!
As a matter of fact, the micro/mini/small/medium industry sector is already in deep trouble facing hardships such as the distribution of products affected, acute financial shortage, and disturbances in the arrival of raw material, etc.! In this situation, the condition that if one employee is affected, the action to seal the company or arresting the industry owner has greatly upset the entrepreneurs as reported by the Head of the FISME (Federation of the Indian Small Manufacturing Entrepreneurs), Animesh Saxena!
This federation has over 700 members, The federation has emphasized that the company must wait for the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs to be released and be cautious while deciding to resume functioning!
Earlier, Confederation Indian Industries (CII), has sent a notification regarding the clarity in guidelines to resume functioning. In this notification, it is also mentioned that the remarks by some state chief ministers that in case of a detection of an affected case in any district, the responsibility must be owned by the district collector - this has only worsened the situation further!
The Federation has embarked on a mission to form the practical guidelines to be made jointly with the health experts and some International Organisations. In this, it has been mandatory of the owner to take the insurance cover for the employees not covered under ESI (Employee State Insurance).
