Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce

  • info@bcic.in
    • |

  • 080 25583325 /26/27/

    • |
  • Login
    • |

Lockdown is not the panacea! We need SSMSS (Sense, Social distancing, Masks, Soaps and Sanitizers) to win this battle! : BCIC, 12th July, 2020

Mr. Devesh Agarwal, President, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce in regards to the Lockdown said that, " we thank the Government for all the support extended to get Industry back on track but we believe this Lockdown is an extremely regressive step! BCIC strongly believes that government will allow the industries to work normally with adequate precautions and good practices put in place.

We strongly urge the government not to bring industries under the scope of the lockdown. We are very confident that like other cities such as Chennai,Pune and Delhi, the government will allow the industries to work with adequate caution and especially in current situation that Industries have put in a lot of efforts and resources to inch up after the previous lockdowns and green shoots are slowly surfacing with GST collections nearly back to pre-lockdown levels. This re-lockdown for Industries will paralyse the morale of both management and workforce, and impose back-breaking losses on the vulnerable MSME sector which has seen a shut down at the rate of nearly 30%. The Hotel Industry and Restaurants are presently functioning at 2%, is yet to regain from the prior Lockdowns shocks. Even WHO recommends that Lockdowns are not suitable for an economically vulnerable country like India. Lockdown is not the panacea! We need SSMSS (Sense, Social distancing, Masks, Soaps and Sanitizers) to win this battle.”

Mr. T. R Parasuraman, Sr. Vice President BCIC, while appreciating the proactive leadership by the Government, expressed his concern in this regard by saying that, " In case the industries are not exempted from the lockdown, will have a big impact on the export market which is slowly picking up and another lockdown at this juncture will lower the confidence of the Indian exporting companies. The post implications on labour force from other districts will be severe because once they go, it takes another one month for them to come back! This will further jolt the industries and state economy. He further said that apart from the government efforts all the citizens have a big responsibility to follow the rules strictly and participate in the consciousness building among the public with regards to social distancing and added that  strict penalty to be levied for those not wearing masks and not following social distancing norms. He further said that BCIC will fully work hand in hand with the Government in promoting industry friendly policies and promoting “Namma Karnataka” as a very strong global manufacturing hub.”