80% Bahadurgarh footwear units yet to resume production
Ravinder Saini
Tribune News Service
Jhajjar, July 26
Curbs on the industries have been lifted, yet more than 80 per cent of the factories at India’s biggest footwear hub in Bahadurgarh town haven’t resumed production.
With a huge inventory of footwears lying in the godowns, and in the absence of labourers and orders, manufacturers are sitting tight, and waiting for some more time to pass before resuming work.
There are over 800 small, medium and large scale footwear and its allied units in Bahadurgarh, and around 155 of them have not started their operations in full swing.
Require full strength of labourers
Footwear is manufactured under a chain system, which requires full strength of labourers. Industry needs at least 1.5 lakh workers, but so far only 50,000 workers are coming to work. —Subhash Jagga, General secretary, Footwear park association, Bahadurgarh
“Footwear is manufactured under a chain system, which requires full strength of labourers. Hence, more than 80 per cent of units are unable to resume production for the want of labourers. Footwear industry needs at least 1.5 lakh workers, but so far only 50,000 workers are coming to work,” said Subhash Jagga, General Secretary, Footwear Park Association, Bahadurgarh, (FPAB).
Jagga said labourers had started returning from their native places, but it would still take at least three to four more months for normalcy to return.
Pawan Jain, another shoe manufacturer, said at present, the demand for footwear was less in markets. Hence, a majority of manufacturers had not yet resumed production. “Only 20 per cent production is being done with a limited number of labourers,” he added.
Narendra Chhikara, senior vice-president of the FPAB, said a huge stock of footwear lying in godowns and lack of funds were the major reasons behind the prevailing situation.
“Since retailers have no money to make the payment, payments for products supplied before the lockdown are still pending. Given its summer season, only slippers and sandals are in demand these days. Hence, only a few factories are operating,” he added.
Chhikara said the Bahadurgarh footwear industry, which produced half of the nation’s total footwear, used to export footwear worth Rs 2,000 crore to the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Somalia and several Asian nations every year.
