PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: The 10,000-strong industrial unit base in the
Pimpri Chinchwad
Municipal Corporation limits got a fillip on Thursday when the state government allowed operations to begin.
In a notification, the state government said companies in PCMC limits can work with 33% of their enrolled employees “staying in PCMC area (only)” and can also use personal “four-wheeler” transportation/company-provided transportation to get to work.
PCMC houses systemically important companies in Pimpri, Chinchwad and Bhosari regions. The move follows representations by industry bodies, like the Pimpri Chinchwad Small Scale Industries Association and the Mahratta Chambers of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA). They had argued that the “never-seen-before crisis” is severely impacting entire businesses in the region.
The industry representatives had stated that PCMC, with under 200 positive cases and a high recovery rate, cannot be treated at par with other municipal corporations like Pune and Mumbai.
The PCMC said that it will issue directives accordingly in two days.
“We will be studying various aspects and then issuing guidelines to the industrial units in the city in the next two days, with details of the authority from which permissions are required, among others. We expect them to resume operations in two-three days,” municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar said.
Some units in Chinchwad MIDC have already resumed operations with skeletal staff — mostly in planning.
MCCIA president Pradeep Bhargava has said that companies in PCMC and Pune Municipal Corporation limits are important not just to the region, but also to the country.
Pune is among the top five direct and indirect tax contributing zones of the country, most of which comes from the city’s diversified manufacturing sector.