But the units that work throughout the day to bake the brittle glass bangles, making them strong enough to be worn in hands, are suffering from exploitation by bangle exporters, credit issues, rising commodity prices, restrictions on using coal as fuel and the unavailability of natural gas for new units in Firozabad.
The small-scale bangle manufacturers in the town of Firozabad, about 50 km away from Agra, have been facing serious survival issues due to stringent pollution control norms, disallowing them from the use of coal and wood in heating their furnaces.
While proposition of getting a connection to the CNG pipeline laid out by GAIL in the town appeared to be too expensive for these units earlier, GAIL has placed a complete stop on issuing new gas connections now, citing acute shortage of gas supply from ONGC.
Moreover, ever since the bangle metalising plants in the town succeeded in nominally raising their tariffs citing a rise in raw material prices a few weeks back, the glass bangle baking units too have been asking the bangle exporters and contractors for a raise in their service charges but the exporters are not yet ready to allow for it resulting in a stalemate which has forced the units to go on frequent strikes, the latest being called this week.
According to Rakesh Dwivedi, Assistant Commissioner (Labour), Firozabad, most of the demands raised by the small-scale units could be easily resolved through mutual negotiations between the exporters and the unit owners.
Some of the demands, however, were directly related to labor issues and required a direct intervention of the district administration to prevent exploitation of the laborers engaged in the glass industry.
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He said that in a recent meeting with him held on 12th May, the bangle baking unit owners had raised the issue of low payouts offered to them by the bangle exporters and contractors demanding a raise in their margins as the labor was getting expensive with the rise in the commodity prices.
A couple of meetings called to bring the discontented bangle baking unit owners and traders on a platform for amicable discussions had failed. So far, he said, the bangle traders and contractors had shown reluctance to the demands raised by the industry.
The latest round of discussions failed on Monday after the traders refused to discuss any hikes in the tariffs and the bangle units went on an indefinite strike. At present, he said, the glass baking units have been on strike since almost a week and the glass industry was facing losses worth several lakhs each day due to delayed shipments, bringing the city on the brink of an industrial crisis due to the shutdown of these units.
Inam Qureshi, chairman, Glass Bangle Baking Units Service Committee (Choodi Pakayi Bhatthi Seva Samiti) claimed that the glass baking units operated on a very low margin and were completely dependent on labor, which was getting expensive.
These units were classified as small-scale units but were not easily extended the facility of SSI loans by banks, which termed them as cottage units which restricted the upgradation of these units from coal-fired technology to CNG, due to financial considerations.
He said that besides a raise in baking charges, the most prominent demand of the unit owners was that since Firozabad was effectively at the periphery of the Taj Trepezium Zone, the units should be allowed to use coal in their furnaces during the unavailability of natural gas.
Further, he said the credit notes issued by the traders against their services were usually of arbitrary durations fixed by the stockists and traders but the bakers wanted the notes to be redeemable within a week's time.
Also, he claimed, the acceptable rejection margins set by the traders were currently too low and since glass was very brittle, the bangle bakers were often forced to bear the cost of damaged bangles in the form of reduced profits and now, the baking unit owners were demanding a raised rejection margin on both export-quality bangles as well as consumer-grade stuff.
Till both the traders as well as the administration agreed to the demands raised by the bangle bakers, the units were constrained to remain on an indefinite strike, Qureshi said.