Indore: First, it was the Janata Curfew and then the subsequent nationwide lockdown. Among other things, the already tottering economy of the country has come to a grinding halt.
And as the country inches closer towards the May 3 deadline, which marks the completion of the second phase of the nationwide lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic, there are states, including Madhya Pradesh, signalling an extension of the lockdown in major cities at least, as they believe that the worst might still not be over, with the number of cases continuing to surge.
While there is no argument over the fact that Covid19 has derailed the economy and it will take 'some time' to recover, industry leaders feel, this lockdown, where everyone is subjected to the same restrictions, cannot continue until the coronavirus scare ends or a vaccine is developed.
Although there have been murmurs about this for quite some time, several industrialists have now started openly talking about bringing the 'industrial curfew' to an end.
A top industrialist criticised the arbitrary lockdown and advocated the reopening of industries, with the young and healthy being allowed to come to work. It is now an established fact that coronavirus affects different age groups differently.
The middle-aged are far more vulnerable than the younger lot. Young people should be free to come back to work so that some degree of normalcy can eventually be restored in the country, said Pithampur Audhyogik Sangathan president Gautam Kothari.
In Madhya Pradesh, around 2,100 people have been infected with the coronavirus and more than 100 have died. Among the dead, nearly 70 per cent are in the 50-plus age group while the rest were mostly those suffering from diabetes, blood pressure or cardiac ailments.
The trend clearly indicates that the middle-aged or those with ailments which reduce immunity are vulnerable to the virus. The rest are recovering fast, said Dr Praveen Jadia, the CMHO of Indore, which is the epicentre of coronavirus cases in central India.
Epidemiologist Anil Singh also confirmed this observation, saying, the average age of those getting infected is 55 years and the average age of those succumbing to the infection is between 57 and 60 years.
Industrialist Naveen Narang said if such is the case, the government should allow people below 50 years of age to return to work and restrict the rest at home until a vaccine is developed.
You can’t subject everyone to the same degree of restriction until a remedy is developed, as it may take anywhere from six months to a year for the same to hit the market at the earliest. We need to ensure that the economy keeps ticking, or else many industries will have to down their shutters and tens of millions of people will go jobless.
The coronavirus outbreak in India has not only infected thousands of people and taken the lives of hundreds so far but has also brought the already crippled economy to a grinding halt, resulting in losses to the tune of several billions of dollars so far. “This loss is going to multiply manifold and paralyse the country, taking it back by several decades,” said Kothari.
He said that more than 75 per cent of people working in industries in Pithampur and the rest of the country are young, so they could be allowed to work with certain safety measures, like social distancing and wearing masks.
The Association of Industries of Madhya Pradesh has also pressed for the reopening of industries. “Given the condition of the economy, it is high time we are allowed to reopen industries, if not all at once, then in a phased manner.
We have written a letter to the authorities seeking permission to reopen industries in the city and allowing workers to return to work,” said association president Pramod Dafaria. He said that if industries were to be reopened today in a phased manner, the supply chain, snapped by the lockdown, could be redeveloped in due course of time.
The Devi Ahilya Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ramesh Khandelwal too was of the view that the middle-aged should be confined to their homes while the young and healthy be allowed to return to work so that the wheels of the economy start rolling again.
However, he said, industries in the red zones should not be allowed to reopen. As of now, industries in districts which are not hit by the virus should be allowed to restart, with workers adhering to safety measures.
