Safety first as fresh guidelines issued on restarting industries

GUIDELINES COME AFTER 12 PEOPLE DIED IN VISAKHAPATNAM IN AN INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT THAT MAY HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY LONG INACTIVITY

NEWDELHI: The first week in which factories reopen after the national lockdown must be used as a trial period in which safety protocols are ensured and high production targets are not set, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in detailed guidelines issued on Sunday.

These guidelines came days after 12 people were killed in an industrial accident in Visakhapatnam that may have been caused by the long duration of inactivity at the facility.

“Due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units during the lockdown period, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established SOP (standard operating procedure). As a result, some of the manufacturing facilities, pipelines, valves, etc may have residual chemicals, which may pose risk. The same is true for storage facilities with hazardous chemicals and flammable materials,” NDMA said in its guidelines.

Such units should consider the first week of restarting any machinery or chemical unit as the “trial” or “test run” period and “not try to achieve high production targets”, the agency added. Industrial scale operations include the use of chemicals and machinery that require specific cycles of use and maintenance.

NEW DELHI: Indian airlines are pushing for an early resumption of domestic flights from key metros, and have warned that a prolonged lockdown could cripple their operations forever.

Even though the government has indicated that it was in favour of restarting flights between covid-19-designated green zones, most such areas comprise smaller towns and cities, which have low passenger traffic. Most districts in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru are in the red zone, with a large number of active covid-19 cases.

“If airlines are only allowed to operate between smaller towns, and not major tier I cities, huge losses could be expected,” said a senior executive with a no-frills carrier, requesting anonymity. “Indian airlines today operate a fleet of narrow-body planes, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, which are too large to operate between smaller towns from the demand perspective. Also, it’s difficult to base aircraft and crew, and maintain fleet at smaller stations.”

IndiGo and SpiceJet have smaller planes, ATR 72-600 and Bombardier Q400, respectively. But, these comprise only a small part of their respective fleet.

Airline officials said operating between cities in green zones will result in more losses compared to keeping their fleet grounded. “When airlines were filling 75% to 80% of capacity, their businesses were not at the best of their health. At this point of time, we don’t know what the profile of our demand is going to be. Will we be able to fill 60% or 80% of our seats? These are some of the things which at this point are quite not so clear,” said an executive with a full service carrier, also requesting anonymity.

“It may not be viable for airlines to fly on a lot of routes, especially ones connecting smaller towns and cities, due to weak demand. Also, restrictions imposed on flight operations will delay the normal resumption of airline operations, which will start in a calibrated manner, to full capacity,” he added.

Indian airlines face a debilitating cash crunch due to grounding of flight operations following the government’s decision to initiate a lockdown. The lockdown has now been extended till May 17.

India’s aviation sector, including airlines, airport firms, ground handling companies and airport retailers, is expected to post losses of $3-3.6 billion in the June quarter, according to aviation consultant Capa India.

Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer, Capa India, said the current situation posed a dilemma. “There are more challenges in metros with infections increasing rapidly and the peak is expected in June and July. This will constrain resumption within metros.”

OFFICIALS SAID FLYING IN GREEN ZONES WILL RESULT IN MORE LOSSES COMPARED TO KEEPING THE FLEET GROUNDED