AP: It's business as usual for industries

Visakhaptnam Hailing the State Government's decision to exempt them from night curfew, industrial establishments and factories are happy that they are able to continue their economic activity despite the difficulties posed by the outbreak of the second wave of Covid-19.

"Initially we feared that there may be total lockdown preventing our employees from reaching their workstations mainly for those entrusted with the jobs of core activity and processes. Fortunately, all of us are excluded from the purview of curfew," IT Association of Andhra Pradesh president Sreedhar Kosaraju told Bizz Buzz. Incidentally, the notification was issued a few days after the association held meetings with the member-organisations from across the State on the number of people they wanted to be issued special passes. For major manufacturing industries like Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, which has a production capacity of 7.3 million tonne with an annual turnover of Rs18,000 crore, no passes are required for the employees to travel during the restricted hours. Only they have to show official ID-cards on demand, an official of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of VSP, said. Same is the case for Visakh Refinery of HPCL, Coromandel International, Hindustan Shipyard Ltd and Ship Building Centre.

The only condition for employees working during night shifts is that they are allowed to reach home within an hour from completion of their shift. Most IT companies have not disbanded work from home (WFH) from March last year after clamping of lockdown. "Learning the art of managing our operations with minimal staff has come in handy. But the present wave is giving us sleepless nights as employees who have been given WFH are also getting Covid infection mysteriously," regretted O Naresh Kumar, CEO of Symbiosys Technologies. The authorities have instructed major establishments to provide canteen facilities during nights. As all eateries are closed from 10 pm to 5 am, those running canteen in industries have been given special exemption. In a bid to contain the spread of the disease, the AP Government has decided to spend Rs 900 crore on providing free vaccination to those aged 18-45 years. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has already declared that the government is in no mood to impose a total shutdown due to difficult financial position.