State govt allows Ludhiana cottage industries to resume operations

Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday allowed tiny and cottage industries in non-containment mixed use areas of Ludhiana to immediately resume operations.

The permission has been granted in order to support the opening of bigger industries that are dependent on the small ones for components, etc.

“The resumption of operations in these small units, which normally have labour living on or in the vicinity of the premises, will be subject to requirements of access control and strict compliance with Covid standard operating procedures (SOPs),” the CM said in a statement.

Amarinder said repeated requests had been received to allow opening of industries in mixed land use, with access control in non-containment zone of Ludhiana district, subject to adherence of all Covid SOPs/ guidelines. Industries minister Sunder Sham Arora had also suggested that such small units should be allowed to function in order to enable the bigger industries to start operations, he added.

The CM said he had been informed that industry in certain industrial areas in Ludhiana was not yet open despite being permitted to operate under the recent guidelines.

The industrial hub of Ludhiana has 95,000-odd micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The micro and tiny industries in mixed land areas constitute about 50% of the industrial set-up in the district, and employ about 5-6 lakh workers.