Monsoon fury hits units in Vadodara, Ankleshwar

Vadodara and Ankleshwar have been hit by the heavy downpour over the last few days, leading to a disruption of industrial acitivities and the break down of road and rail links.

Ankleshwar Industries Association President Atul Buch puts the daily loss at Rs 20-30 crore for the area.

"It is difficult to give the exact figure at this moment but the chemical units are losing heavily every day," he said Commenting on the flash flood and industrial losses witnessed by the city in the last few days, Chetan Patel, President, Central Gujarat Chamber of Commerce (CGCC), President, said, "We doubt if we will be able to honour our export commitments as the road and rail link has been affect due to rain."

However, the exact losses are yet to be ascertained. The chamber says it will soon take pro-active steps to ensure the industries affected by the rain are addressed by the insurance companies.

"Just as we did last year, we have emphasised on insurance and we will contact the insurance firms to release funds quickly."

Mahesh Shah, the president of Federation of Small Scale Industries (FSSI) believed the small-scale units are the Worst hit.

"As small units has to rely more on the suppliers as they do not have a huge stock of raw materials, the heavy downpour has affected the dispatch of their products to the producers," he said.

There was no dispatch during the last three days from several units in Vadodara. This adversely hit about 1,000- 2,000 units out of the approximately 15,000 units based in Vadodara and its periphery.

Another major challenge the industry has to face is the high number of absenteeism due to the heavy rains.

According to the president of Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh, Sharif Khan Pathan, almost 25 per cent of the railway employees were absent at Vadodara during the heavy rains.

Even the transport sector has not be left untouched by the monsoon, as P M Waghela , vice president of Akhil Gujarat Transport Association (AGTA) says the average truck transport is down almost 50 per cent.

There are 17 -20 major transportation companies in Vadodara and on an average 15-17 trucks leave for Mumbai.

The monsoon has also put a dent on the local transports companies turnover as the running cost remains same due to toll taxes.