Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday hinted that with the number of Covid-19 patients rising in Mumbai and Pune, complete resumption of business and industrial operations in that region might not be possible from May 3.

Thackeray said in a statement on social media that the areas in and around Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivli, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad are in the red zone and it would be against the interest of the people to restart operations there.

The State has created red, orange and green zones. Red covers areas where Covid-19 cases are increasing, orange includes areas where patients have been diagnosed but the numbers are not rising, and green is where there are no patients. The State has already allowed some industrial activity in orange and green zones, with restrictions and precautions.

Thackeray’s statement essentially means that industries located in the Mumbai Pune-Aurangabad and Nagpur belt, including automobile, ESDM (electronic system and design manufacturing), pharmaceuticals and chemicals, engineering, FMCG and IT/ITeS might have to wait for further directions from the State government for full-fledged operations.

Impact on Pune IT sector

The IT/ITeS sector in the Pune region might take time to resume operations. From 2014 to 2018, 119 private IT parks with an investment of approximately ₹19,260 crore and employment of 5,50,000 have come up in the State.

“We are working from home as of now. But the fear of job loss is looming large. No salary cuts as of now, but some companies have put a freeze on hiring,” said an employee with an IT firm in Pune.

The majority of MSMEs are located in the Pune-Mumbai-Aurangabad belt. MSMEs account for more than 80 per cent of the total employment, according to the State government’s latest industrial policy. The policy adds that MSMEs are best placed to utilise local resources and create local entrepreneurship and employment. About 40 per cent of the exports originate from such units.

The Pune region, one of India’s largest auto hubs, houses Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Auto apart from international majors such as Volkswagen and Mercedes.

Industry players say the majority of skilled and unskilled workers here — from Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam and Uttar Pradesh — have headed home following the virus outbreak and it would not be possible to restart operations till they return.

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