As the Covid-19 pandemic is slowly getting under control, the biggest industrial belt in Asia at Adityapur is getting back on track.
Hit by lockdown, the units under Adityapur Industrial Area are pinning hopes on increase in demand to revamp its productions.
With commercial vehicle major Tata Motors increasing its manufacturing operations for its commercial vehicles from its plants located at Jamshedpur, the industrial units of Adityapur are hopeful to give a fillip to its operations.
Tata Motors has received a fresh order of 9,000 vehicles for the month of July. Most of the work orders are being given to its ancillaries at Adityapur.
The sprawling Adityapur Industrial Area houses 1200 units- including 11 large-scale, 64 small scale and 166 tiny industries and most of these units depend on Tata Motors.
“Several of the industrial units have started receiving orders. We need support from the Government too to be back on track, said an official of Adityapur Small Industries Association ( ASIA) .
Tata Motors produces truck and bus chassis of various models by sourcing parts of the vehicles produced in the ancillary units in the Adityapur industrial area. After the lockdown started, assembling work at the Tata Motors plant was hit. Ancillary units in Adityapur where some 70,000 workers work also stopped functioning. However, with the new phase unlocking the company has started functioning, raising hopes of industrial units.
Due to lockdown, the demand for goods has also come down and the entrepreneurs were forced to cut down production to 80%. As many as 70,000 workers directly or indirectly associated with the automobile units lost their jobs.
Santosh Khaitan, vice-president of the Adityapur Small Industries Association (Asia), said the demand for vehicles has been picking up for some time after the second wave. "We expect the government to convince the banks to provide around six to eight months' leeway to the ancillaries (to put on hold repayment of interest amount and loan amount) and prevent the banks from further declaring the crisis-hit units as NPA," he said.
Meanwhile, employees of the Adityapur Industrial Area are also required to periodically check-in and declare the status of their own, as well as their family’s health. In addition, all employees and visitors entering and exiting the plant premises are also being screened for temperature checks.