Punjab expected to procure 132 lakh metric tons wheat: Chief Secretary
Punjab is expected to procure 132 lakh metric tons wheat, out of which 17.14 lakh metric tons have already been acquired, Chief Secretary Anurag Verma said on Sunday.
Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, on Thursday allowed cottage industries in non-containment mixed use areas of Ludhiana to immediately resume operations, in order to support the opening of bigger industries that are dependent on the small ones for components etc.
The resumption of operations in these small units, which normally have labour living on or in the vicinity of the premises, will be subject to requirements of access control and strict compliance with Covid standard operating procedures (SOPs).
He said repeated requests had been received from industry associations to allow opening of industries in mixed land use, with access control in non-containment zone of Ludhiana District, subject to adherence of all Covid SOPs.
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Ludhiana is an industrial city having approximately 95,000 Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), offering employment to more than 10 lakh skilled and non-skilled industrial workers.
These workers belong to various states of the country, and as a result of the prolonged lockdown, have become unemployed and are facing great hardship, the CM said.
Amarinder said despite easing of restrictions, only 6,900 of the industries in Ludhiana have so far resumed activities. Many of the industries are not able to start their works as they are dependent on various small and tiny cottage industries which provide them components etc, and most of these cottage industries are located in mixed land use areas as per notified Master Plan, pointed out the CM.
The micro industries in mixed land areas constitute about 50 per cent of the industrial set-up in the district, and employ about five to six lakh workers.
Established about four decades back, these have been granted industrial connections and, for all practical purposes, these mixed land areas are considered as industrial pockets for green industries.
These units are being operated by their owners themselves, and employ only a few other workers who reside in the same area.
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