Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, April 13: President of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Ashok Bhalotia, in a letter to Chief minister Hemant Soren has demanded relief measures for businessmen and industrialists of large, medium and small sectors to provide relief in the forms of electricity charges, waiver of interest on loan installments, access to raw material and mechanical components from within the state and government contribution towards 50 percent of salaries and wages to employees in the MSMI units for the period under lockdown as relief measures for the losses that have accrued due to lockdown.
In a press release issued by SCCI president Ashok Bhalotia on Monday, April 13, the crux of the charter of demand sent to the Chief Minister has been stated. The note states that the contribution of MSMI to the entire industrial scenario cannot be denied but the financial status of such units has been taking a beating even since before the promulgation of the lockdown and some medium and small scale industrial units have already downed their shutters.
Under such compelling circumstances, the SCCI has urged the Jharkhand government to act like a messiah and pull out the businessmen and industrialists from the financial quagmire as the very lifeline of the MSMI sector and the future of thousands of workers are in the throes of a dark future.
SCCI has demanded that in order to safeguard the survival interests of small traders, higher sales tax should be imposed on shops in shopping malls and to waive the fixed charges on electricity supplied by JBVNL and JUSCO to industrial units that are closed since the lockdown came into effect. A demand has also been made for disbursement of 50 percent salaries and wages of the industrial workers by the government for their payment during the lockdown period. A demand for waiver of interest on installments on loans inclusive of cash credit loans availed for running business, industries has also been made to the state government. SCCI has demanded subsidy for MSMI sector as per the units� investments, and a government notification to large scale industrial units to purchase spares and other mechanical requisites from manufacturing units in the Kolhan Region or from those in the Jharkhand state.
The letter appreciated the efforts of the state government towards providing relief to poor and needy people including daily wage earners whose sources of income have been hard hit by the lockdown.