As industries decline fresh orders, jobs for migrants too shrink in Noida

NOIDA: Even as industry bodies talk about requiring people for manufacturing units and the construction sector in the wake of exodus of migrant workers during the lockdown , in reality, the actual number of jobs has shrunk in Gautam Budh Nagar. Manpower suppliers and contractors say there’s demand for only 40% of workforce.

This is because most entrepreneurs are focused on exhausting the existing inventory and orders they had bagged before Covid-19 lockdown was enforced. And as the future looks uncertain, many fear opportunities may dry up in the next three months unless remedial measures are taken.

Surajpur-based manpower supplier, Omkar Bhati, who runs a company called Final Solution, said, “Before lockdown, we had a strength of 800 to 1,000 workers. However, two-thirds of them have left for their hometowns. We cater to construction, mobile manufacturing units, and other industrial units operating out of Surajpur. Prospects seem bleak for now and we have our fingers crossed.”

Before the lockdown came into effect, the units used to offer a minimum wage of Rs 8,625 a day to unskilled workers, though the earnings of semi-skilled and skilled workers were much higher. On an average, a worker used to get Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 in a month as overtime and variable dearness allowance .

But most of the entrepreneurs are now focused on wrapping up pending orders and exhausting the existing inventory. “We had some pending orders and raw materials in our facility. We want to finish the inventory. We catered to clients from Indonesia, Turkey, UAE, Malaysia among others. They require mehendi products. But we are not sure what would happen post-August and hence we have called just a third of the workforce,” said Ved Prakash, an exporter from Phase II area in Noida.

A supervisor at Lohia Consultancy in Sector 62, Sachin said, “We used to supply unskilled workers and security guards to commercial establishments in the city. We started reaching out to registered individuals. However, only a third of them seem to be present in the city. The rest have gone back to their home towns. Moreover, the demand is muted at the moment and we would scale up operations as per requirement of our clients.”

Industrialists say they will take some time to scale up operations. “Even as factories have been permitted to operate at optimum strength — the maximum units are working at 60% capacity. In addition, 30% industries have not opened yet. We do want to scale up work, but we are not getting all our old staff back as many have left and reskilling new people will take time for the kind of work we have,” said Kulmani Gupta of Noida chapter of Indian Industries Association .