NASHIK :
A number of poweloom units outside the containment zones in Malegaon town which were shut for the last two months due to outbreak of COVID-19 have resumed operations adhering to social distancing norms.
The poweloom owners and the workers dependent upon it were facing severe financial crisis due to closure of the spinning units following government’s orders on the backdrop of Covid lockdown. Citing livelihood issue of the workers and to rerun economic cycle which was almost came to a halt, district collector Suraj Mandhare meanwhile conducted meeting with the powerloom owners and gave permission to resume operations subject to certain terms and conditions.
“There is a big responsibility on the shoulders of the powerloom operators and owners to run the units with full steam so as to speed up economic activity and generation of more employment. It is therefore necessary to follow the guidelines of the administration,” appealed Mandhare.
For smooth functioning of powerlooms in the town and for its monitoring, a committee on local level has been formed, he said adding that the committee will address issues facing the sector and redress grievances of the owners, operators and workers, Mandhare exuded confidence.
Meanwhile, small businesses and units were seen functioning from areas of Sir Sayyadnagar up to Gulshirnagar depot in this poweloom town.
“We are very happy to see that power loom operations have started outside the containment zones. The unit owners helped us lot during the lockdown and we were agogly awaiting for resumption of powerlooms. We would follow all the instructions given by the district administration, expressed workers of an electric poweloom unit owned by Usman Gani.
Earlier a week ago, Mandhare had held meeting with power loom owners to address issues of banking, movement of labour and goods, medical check up, NGT (National Green Tribunal) case and precautions to be taken and had expressed confidence that most of the power looms would be operationalized by 1st of June.
Majority of the power loom units in textile hub Malegaon were fell silent since the last week of March when first lockdown came into force.
