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Maharashtra Government is considering allowing industrial operations in districts where no Covid-19 cases or only a few have been reported. Also, the agricultural operations are likely to resume to avoid losses to farmers. However, the industry and agriculture sector is worried about the return of migrant labourers.
Maharashtra is an automobile manufacturing hub of the country. The State is also a leader in agro and food processing industries. The economy of Maharashtra is mainly driven by manufacturing, finance, international trade, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, gems and jewellery, IT and ITeS and tourism.
Skilled and unskilled labourers from other States play a pivotal role in running the State’s industries and agriculture sector. However, with the spread of coronavirus, the majority of labourers have returned to their States.
“Even if Maharashtra Government decides to allow operations, it is going to be difficult to re-start work without labourers. Work is at standstill in Pune-Pimpri auto hub as the majority of workers here — from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh — have headed home following the virus outbreak,” says Sandeep Belsare, President of Pimpri Chinchwad Small Scale Industries Association.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in its recommendation has stated that there are two aspects to this issue — the willingness of the workers to come back and the logistical facilitation for willing workers.
Covid-19 insurance plan
The CII in its recommendation states, “Undertake an aggressive ‘messaging’ campaign on the preparedness of the government and the industry for the re-start. Facilitate tripartite dialogue between government, worker associations/unions and industry to allay the health and safety-related concerns of the workers.” It has also suggested a Covid-19 insurance scheme for migrant workers, for three months with part of the cost to be borne by the government and part by the industry.
CII has also suggested that migrant workers could be issued e-passes by local authorities such as the BDO or the tehsildars, based on the industry requests. These could in the form of QR codes or SMS. Workers with e-passes should be allowed to travel to their place of the workforce.
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