Farmers Movement Archive

With supply chain cut, Haryana industries start bleeding again

GURUGRAM: Already reeling from losses incurred during the lockdown, the farmers’ protest and the restrictions on movement through Delhi’s borders have dealt another blow to the Haryana industry. Poultry to plywood, hosiery to pharmacy — almost all sectors are bleeding because of lack of raw material. Trucks carrying material are stuck at various border points and the factories are on the verge of exhausting their supplies. The farmers’ protests against the three agriculture laws have prompted the Delhi cops to close two of the main border crossings with Haryana at Tikri and Singhu. As a result, the factories operating in the districts near Delhi, such as Sonipat, Rohtak, Jind and Panipat, have been the worst affected. Industry experts have pegged the loss at around Rs 2,500 crore. They said the protests had cast a cloud even on export of manufactured products as 7,500 trucks ferrying such material were stuck at different locations. The supply chain of raw materials broken, the footwear industry based in Bahadurgarh has been one of the worst sufferers. Unconfirmed estimates said finished products worth Rs 400 crore were lying in factories and waiting to be transported. Narendra Chopra, a footwear manufacturer in Bahadurgarh, said winter was the peak season for them and the losses were more biting because ready products could not be sent across the borders for lack of transport. “There are around 2,000 footwear factories in Bahadurgarh, and 1,300 of them are on the verge of shutting down because of the unavailability of raw materials. Over the last 10 days, production has suffered a 70% reduction because there are no raw materials,” he added. In Panipat and Sonipat, the hub of food processing, around 50% of the factories had to be shut down temporarily as raw materials exhausted. Factory owners said around Rs 1,000 crore worth of products were ready to be transported. There are about 4,200 industries between Kundli and Badi, where business worth Rs 2,800 crore is done annually. Pritam Singh Sachdeva, president of the Panipat Industrial Association, said they were facing a shortage of threads, which come from Gujarat. “Several small manufacturers have had to down their shutters due to non-availability of goods. The winter season is the time for sweaters and cardigans. And here, our business is suffering big time,” he added. Sumit Kumar, the owner of a food processing factory, said they were operating at 50% capacity. “After the lockdown, it’s a new challenge for all of us. No solution seems to be in sight,” he added. Transporters, too, are feeling the heat as more than 7,500 trucks have become immovable. Pradeep Modi, general secretary of the Transport Welfare Association, said they had adopted a wait-and-watch policy. “There is much inconvenience in the dispatch of goods. We are shipping goods through the KMP and other alternative routes. As a result of the longer distance that is now being covered, the prices of raw materials have gone up,” he said. On Saturday, too, there was no respite from the protests, nor was any relief in sight for the commuters. Thousands of vehicles, including trucks carrying raw materials, were stranded on the Delhi-Agra NH-2 for almost 20 hours since Friday night after Haryana Police blocked its border with UP at Mathura’s Kotwan. The decision was taken after farmers started protests in Palwal and Hodal. The border was eventually opened on Saturday evening. Mathura superintendent of police (rural) Shrish Chandra told TOI that the vehicles were stranded on three roads. “Though we had diverted many vehicles to Yamuna Expressway, the movement of traffic smoothened only after Haryana Police opened the border in the evening,” he added. In neighbouring UP, the Chilla border was completely sealed on Saturday after farmers blocked the Delhi-Noida lanes in addition to the carriageways for traffic in the opposite direction. Traffic between Noida and east Delhi was thrown out of gear because of the protests on the key highway.

The Times of India

2020-12-06

Gurgaon