In the tug-of-war between the farmers and the central government, it is the trader community that is bearing the brunt. The farming community had chosen to block all railways as one of the ways in which to express their displeasure.
This is season and a lot of goods need to be transported. Seeing the plight of the traders, the farmers granted a relaxation that they will permit freight trains to ply through the state.
The traders were relieved.
However, now the central government is making a stance that unless transportation is enabled in full, partial measures will not be accepted.
Between this tussle, the traders have been left high and dry.
Narinder Singh Saggo, Industrialist and President Focal Point Extension Association, Jalandhar challenges the link between passenger and freight trains. If the industries are not resumed then the large population of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will have go without livelihood.
The president wonders what about the elections in Bihar. He goes on to claim that in this game of chess between the governments, the loss is of India, Indian economy, and the common man. It is to be believed that if the goods do not reach in time; both ends of production will be affected. The factories will not be able to continue manufacturing and the shops will not have goods to sell.
The lack of raw material has resulted in temporary unemployment of lakhs of individuals. The industry had earlier suffered due to COVID-19 lockdown and now this issue is worsening the situation.
Gursharan Singh, president of the Jalandhar Industrialists and Traders Joint Action Committee, too concurs that the lockdown has hit the industry. When the regulations were relaxed, then there were labor problems and then raw material problems.
The trains were not plying earlier also, but when there was hope, the farmers have decided to block trains to express their displeasure on MSP.
Now the export market of Punjab including hand tools, sports goods has been decimated. So many containers are stranded at the railway stations and at seaports.
The convener elaborated how the industry is not under attack from one but all sides. Raw material is not being received. Existing raw material with the company has been used and now the finished goods are not being dispatched. The raw material in open market has become prohibitively expensive.
GST refund of the industrialists is pending with the central government. He claims that the industry might vanish from the state if the state government does not take initiatives. He reminded that the industry is a source of revenue for the government and if the industries lose then the government also loses.
Earlier factories worked 24-hours-a-day but now if the firm is able to operate for 8 hours that is an achievement. Even the transport costs have more than doubled.
He clarified that all sizes of companies have been hit, but the worst-hit are the medium-sized companies.
He ended the interview requesting the state government to work out with the central government and resolve the genuine issues of our feeders, the farmers.
The issue of freight trains was raised in a meeting of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, Ludhiana. The traders claimed that if the freight trains do not begin plying soon, their factories may have to be closed.
All in all, about Rs 1,500 loss has been incurred in the last in one month. Moreover, they see only further losses on the horizon.
In the meeting, the traders continued that the neighboring states of Haryana and Rajasthan too have farmers, but they have not dropped down to such measures.
The traders requested the Punjab government to handle the issue, and would be meeting the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh soon.