As Delhi unlocks, manufacturers, realtors face roadblocks

Shortage of labour, lack of supply of materials pose hurdles to resuming operations

The Delhi government may have allowed manufacturing and construction activities to resume in the national capital, but with the movement of vehicles and other business activities continuing to be restricted, realtors and manufacturers faced severe roadblocks on Day One of the unlocking process.

Take the Okhla Industrial area in southeast Delhi. Home to thousands of offices and hundreds of small and medium-scale manufacturing units, the streets of the business hub remained deserted as very few turned up for work.

Anshul Jain, a production manager at Happy Sound Industries, a mediumscale manufacturer of branded audio products like speakers, amplifiers and microphones, opened the doors of his manufacturing unit after one-and-ahalf months. But out of his usual number of 100 workers, only 25 came to work.

Happy Sounds’ operations have been further hit by the lack of supply of key components like magnets, speakers, metals and printed circuit boards. Most of these come from Delhi’s trading hubs like Chawri Bazar and Lajpat Rai market.

However, with the restrictions in place, placing orders with traders is near impossible, said Jain. “No retailer is placing any orders. Our companyowned outlet at Daryaganj is also shut. So even if we produce something, we don’t know how the stocks will be cleared,” he said. Jain is not alone. Manufacturers who attempted to resume operations on Monday faced similar hurdles.

Those like Jain, who are directly involved in manufacturing activities, said that though their units have opened, they are unlikely to scale back to normal levels of operations until restrictions on other businesses are lifted.

Others like Fractal Steel Products or cotton gloves manufacturer Shashi India, also located in Okhla, have decided not to resume operations till supply chain bottlenecks are cleared. Locals estimate that at least 60 per cent of the units in the industrial hub remained shut on Day One of the relaxation of restrictions.

Similarly, despite being given the goahead to resume construction activities, real estate developers, too, are not happy. The lockdown spurred a large section of migrant workers to return to their hometowns, and most of them are yet to come back.

“Though the decision to allow construction activity in Delhi is welcome, the problem is that labour have gone back to their hometowns. The pandemic has made them scared to come back, which will affect the project completion deadlines,” said Akshay Taneja, managing director, TDI Infratech, a real estate company.

Abhishek Bansal, executive director at the Pacific Group, added that this is a difficult time for the real estate sector as construction activities are facing supply disruptions and a shortage of labour. “With Delhi government’s announcement of opening up, it could take a month for things to normalise. Authorities should also look into the possibility of bringing back the workers who are wary of coming to Delhi due to the fear of infections,” said Bansal.

Others like Ankit Kansal, founder and managing director at 360 Realtors, feel that larger players will have an edge in the current situation since they had the wherewithal to keep their labourers on site during the lockdown.

Most realtors that are active in the national capital region are now demanding an extension of deadlines under the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA).

“An extension of deadlines is needed, and we hope that RERA will consider the unprecedented halt in work. The sector is facing a challenge as many daily wage workers have not returned from their hometowns. These workers make up a good number of the labour force in the construction sector,” said Nayan Raheja, executive director at Raheja Developers.