Pointing that 42 days of continuous lockdown has pushed small and micro enterprises into unprecedented crisis, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday demanded from the Central Government to intervene immediately to provide help to MSMEs during shut down.
At the same time, PPCC chief demanded that at least wages equal to 50 days of job should be urgently transferred to MGNREGA workers bank accounts in advance and work from them should be got done later since they had no money at present due to the ongoing lockdown to arrange food for their families.
Jakhar said that small and micro enterprises make significant contribution to the economy and millions of people are employed with it, “but with the limited financial resources, this sector is in serious crisis these days. It is not enough for the Central Government to defer loan recovery for just three months because after three months’ closure, the sector will not have the capital to pay the installments”.
He also said that the Centre has also asked the sector to provide regular salaries to its employees.
“It is imperative that the Central Government give exemption to small and micro enterprises in the interest of loans and other taxes for up to one year to prevent them from a fatal closure,” he added.
Terming the central government's contribution of Rs 500 to JanDhan accounts as a cruel joke to the poor, Jakhar said that in this way, the Centre was putting people in more crisis as thousands of people were braving heat in queue to draw only Rs 500 from the banks most of which were not following COVID related advisories also.
Therefore, it is necessary to transfer one-time and sufficient money in their bank accounts to prevent crowding that defeats the basic purpose of lockdown, he said.