Truckers strike: Punjab industry feels the heat, stares at job losses

The ongoing nationwide strike by truckers has hit the Punjab's industry hard by disrupting supply of raw materials and finished goods, inflicting heavy financial losses on units, industry officials said today.

With no movement of trucks for past several days, the state industry has also scaled down the production in the wake of "insufficient" raw material and expressed fear that it could lead to job losses if the strike continued for more days.

"Truckers strike which has entered seventh day today has dealt a severe blow to Punjab's industry. No industry vertical in the state remained unaffected by the truckers strike," said former President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations, S C Ralhan said today.

"There is no arrival of raw material and similarly there is no dispatch of finished goods in almost all the sectors like bicycle, auto parts, hand tools," said Ralhan while adding that the trade had suffered financial loss to several hundred crore because of truckers' strike.

Truckers under the banner of All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) have been on a nationwide indefinite strike since July 20 to press for several demands, including a reduction in central and state taxes by getting diesel under the GST.

"It is estimated that output by state industry has been scaled down by over 10 per cent. Exports are also hit as there is no movement of containers at the inland container depots in Ludhiana," said Ralhan, who is also president of Ludhiana Handtool Association.

North India Induction Furnace Association President K K Garg said that steel furnace units had been on the verge of closure because of truckers' strike.

"There is no production of iron and steel items because of non-availability of scrap which is the raw material for us," he further said adding that the government should intervene at the earliest to resolve the issue.

Mandi Gobindgarh - known as the steel town of Punjab has more than 400 units including 80 induction furnaces with daily production of 12,000 MT. It caters to several industry verticals including construction industry and light engineering sector.

Ludhiana-based Duke Group Chairman Komal Jain said they have started stocking finished items at their factory premises because of not being able to send goods to buyers.

"If strike continues for four-five days more, then it will have a worst effect on industry," said Jain whose company produces t-shirts, trousers, jeans, jackets etc.