To save these industries from downing shutters, which will render thousands jobless, the Pimpri Chinchwad Small Industries Association (PCSIA) has written a letter to State Industries Minister Ashok Chavan demanding various concessions.

Talking to The Indian Express, Chavan said “ I cannot react immediately to demands of the association. But I will set up a meeting with the members of the association and look into their demands soon.” When asked about a possible date for the meeting, the minister said he was unable to give a date at this point of time.

However, MLA Vilas Lande said the matter needed to be addressed on an urgent basis. “I would be taking up the demands of the association with Energy Minister Dilip Walse Patil and Industries Minister Ashok Chavan tomorrow. The current condition of Pimpri Chinchwad MIDC is worrisome.” Lande himself is an industrialist and employs hundreds in the Pimpri MIDC.

In the letter sent to the minister on November 14, Arun Mehtre, Chairman of PCSIA, said that many industries situated in the automobile hub of Pimpri Chinchwad are forced to cut jobs and reduce their shift timings and also shut down the company for a few days due to the ongoing crisis.

The letter also goes on to say that large industries have cut their production by around 60 per cent. Also, with the largescale industries witnessing a slump, they are extending credit period for payments.

“We are forced to build inventory as we believe that a factory should run at least eight hours a day; otherwise staff working with us for years will be rendered jobless. Banks are not lending money easily and high interest rates have made borrowing unviable. Interest rates, especially for small-scale units, should be reduced to seven per cent. Fluctuating steel rates have allowed confusion to creep in,” the letter jointly signed by five PCSIA office-bearers says.

The other major threat to the MIDC is the mushrooming of residential and commercial buildings on land reserved for industry, the letter said.

The letter goes on to address other grievances - small-scale industries have been affected a lot due to rising organised crime in the industrial area. So, police stations and police force for this area should be increased.

“Due to electricity cuts for which the Maharashtra State Electricity Board does not even give schedules to industries, factories are forced to stop production for around 20 hours a week, but the wages to workers cannot be stopped. Expensive tools and cutters break due to unscheduled power cuts,” it adds.

Commenting on the situation prevailing in the Pimpri MIDC area, Vinod Nanekar, owner of a small scale unit, said, “ Today, sales tax officers landed up at my factory and asked me to show sales tax receipts. I have not received payments for the material I supplied my client in January this year and have been bearing the expenses of my staff for the past 10 months. How can I afford to pay sales tax if I have no income?”

A loan solution
“The government should just lower the interest rates to eight per cent and that is the only remedy we need. Around 10,000 jobs might be affected in the auto ancillary sector in Pune. The current slowdown we are witnessing is cyclical which happens every 10 years. The last time it happened was in 1998. During every slowdown there are companies, which close down, especially the small ones with a couple of machines,” said Vikas Takvane, owner of Siddeshwar Industries, an medium-sized auto ancillary unit in Pimpri.

According to Takavane, even if these companies are given loans they would not be able to sustain themselves once the work orders are down to a trickle as is the case in the auto sector.