MSME Day…Agra Industries Cry For Help
Agra, June 27 (TNA) On MSME day on Monday, Agra industrialists demanded firm steps by the UP government to save the local enterprises from a crisis of existence. “These two and a half years due to the pandemic all sectors of the local industries have been hard hit. The tourism and travel sector is still struggling to survive though domestic tourism has picked some momentum. The number of foreign visitors is still low,” a former president of the chamber of industries, Rajiv Gupta said.
The iron foundries, the leather shoe industry and the handicrafts units are all under a cloud facing an uncertain future, the industrialists said. Already many young entrepreneurs had started making plans to shift base to other areas, including Singapore and UAE. The Yogi government had promised ease of doing business in the state, but most industrialists said, conditions continued to remain poor and dismal.
The different departments of the government showed no urgency or willingness to help businessmen who have suffered a lot due to scores of restrictions on expansion and diversification, Veer Gupta said. Industries in the Taj Trapezium zone that includes Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, have received a raw deal from successive governments. After the 1993 Supreme Court judgement in the PIL filed by MC Mehta to save the Taj from pollution, a series of restrictions were imposed.
The polluting industries were told to shut down or shift. A large number of iron foundries downed shutters and many flour, oil, daal mills closed. Even hotels, nursing homes and hospitals felt handicapped by restrictions.
The state government had announced an IT Park, but so far nothing concrete has been done. The leather park project is hanging fire and tourism projects including the mega Mughal museum have not received a much desired booster dose.
The one district one project of the state government has not made any difference to the sales promotion, entrepreneurs said. Once upon a time, Agra was a leading industrial hub, but the scene has changed drastically, forcing the younger generation to migrate and seek future in greener pastures.
The nine MLAs and three MPs plus one mayor of the BJP are not exercised about the pathetic state of the local industry. The unemployment rate is dangerously shooting upwards. With mass exodus from the vast rural hinterland, the situation is getting further compounded.