Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday expressed grave concern at the large-scale retrenchment of labourers and other daily wagers by cash-crunched industries across Punjab in the wake of demonetisation.
From ludhiana’s hosiery industry to textile industry in Amritsar and the sports industry in Jalandhar, all businesses in the state were on the brink of ruin as a result of the ill-conceived demonetisation move of the Modi government, said Captain Amarinder, warning that if the crisis was not immediately controlled, the state would be plunged into industrial backwardness.
With no cash to pay the daily workers, they had no option but to lay off thousands of them, adversely impacting their own businesses, industry captains have told the Punjab Congress president.
Captain Amarinder Singh said many of these laid-off workers were leaving Punjab and going back to their native places in search of alternative sources of income. “But with the rural economy also badly hit by the demonetisation, where will they find other sources of income,” he asked, squarely blaming Modi for the financial and social mess he had created with his illogical and unplanned move.
In a statement issued here, the Punjab Congress president said he had been informed by industry captains from ludhiana and other parts of the state that thousands of daily wage workers and labourers, who were not on the rolls of companies, had been asked to leave since they could not afford to pay them for their work. As a result, the very survival of these workers and their families was at stake, said Captain Amarinder, asking Modi to take the responsibility for them and provide them with alternative means of income to tide them through these tough times.
While in small-scale industries, up to 80% such job losses were reported, bigger industries had sacked up to 10% of their employees due to their inability to pay them their daily wages in cash, he added.
Paying them through cheque or direct transfer to bank accounts was also not an option in such cases as most of these employees had no bank accounts or ATM cards, said Captain Amarinder. Even those who had bank accounts were wary of accepting payment there because of the difficulties involved in withdrawing the money, which they need urgently for their day-to-day survival, he pointed out.