Industrial activity picks up in Kashmir: Govt

Government has said that industrial activity in areas which are not designated as Red Zones commenced with priority being given to restarting manufacturing units supplying essential commodities and medical supplies.

“We have restoredindustrial activity and more importantly the fruit that was lying in coldstores was a concern and now about 1450 trucks have left from cold stores toDelhi and other terminal markets”, said Director Industries & CommerceKashmir, Mehmood Ahmad Shah.

   

“There are 31 CA stores holding about 25000 MT of apple andthis fruit would be gradually exported to fruit markets till the middle ofJune”, he added.

“About 80 packaging unitsmanufacturing card board boxes are also functional. By allowing cold stores andcard board units to resume operations, the fruit crop would get the much neededpackaging and marketing support.  In next10 to 15 days, cherry season is going to start. Both cold stores and card boardpackaging units shall cater to the cherry crop and benefit the growers andfruit dealers. Since the shelf life of cherry is very short, this year moreemphasis will be on canning of the produce to increase its shelf life”,Director Industries said.

Similarly to give fillip to the construction sector, cementplants, brick kilns and stone crusher plants have also been allowed to restartwith in-house labour. Giving details, Director Industries Kashmir said thatcement factories were initially asked to dispatch their existing stock and nowthey have commenced manufacture of cement as well.

“Besides, wood based industrial units comprising plywoodfactories and veneer plants have also been allowed to function with necessaryprecautions in place for workers. This would resume export of ply wood andallied wood based products to outside markets”, he added.

These developments come inthe wake of Government permitting manufacturing activities in the IndustrialEstates and notifying the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for regulatingindustrial activities. The guidelines allow limited manufacturing activityof  essential commodities like basic foodprocessing items like rice, flour, milk, bread packed food items, baby foodproducts, packaged drinking water, medicines, soaps, sanitizers,  disinfectants, cotton masks etc.  

Industrial Units have been asked to make arrangements forstay of workers within the premises, maintaining proper hygiene, ensuringfrequent cleaning and use of masks and social distancing.

To meet the demand of masks, Handloom Corporation andKhadi& Village Industries Board have also been mobilised to produce masksand 28 units are engaged in producing about 54500 masks per day and a total of9.50 lakh masks have been supplied till date as per the official statementissued by Industries & Commerce Department.

Shah said that Unit holders of Industrial Estate Lassiporahave contributed Rs 500,000 to set up a quarantine centre in the Estate andfive Covid- 19 Testing Booths have been donated by owner of a prominent steelmanufacturing plant from IE Rangreth which have been provided to the hospitals.

“One decontamination tunnel has also been installed atSanatGharBemina as a part of CSR initiative,” he added.

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