Lockdown, breezy summer hit Bathinda’s room cooler industry
BATHINDA: The air cooler manufacturing industry of Bathinda, which is considered to be the largest in Punjab, is hit by lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak and a cooler summer this year.
There are around 100 factories engaged in manufacturing of room coolers and ancillary units in Bathinda. Against the average production of five lakh units of coolers, this season, the local units may not be able to supply half of it due to low availability of trained workers .
A leading cooler manufacturer and ex-president of the Bathinda industrial growth centre, Kapil Goyal, said that since steel plants are not fully functional, cooler manufacturing sector is facing a shortage of raw material. “When lockdown was imposed in Punjab on March 22, manufacturers had a stock of raw material for a few days. As manufacturing began from May 5, there is no supply of steel sheets. Moreover, transporters have increased charges and the frail industry is unable to bear the additional expenses,” he said.
Vikram Lakhi, president of the North India Cooler and Fan Manufacturing Association, said that Bathinda caters to the demands of markets in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and western UP, but the prevalent climatic conditions are giving a severe blow to the cooler sector.
Entrepreneur Ashu Goyal, said during lockdown, the workers were provided food and wages but as factories resume operations, workers have refused to work. “We lost our peak season of manufacturing coolers to the lockdown,” he said