May 24: Most of the industries located in the Bara-Parsa Industrial Corridor have cut down production following a decline in demand due to the restrictions enforced by the local authorities to contain coronavirus.

Subodh Kumar Gupta, president of the Birgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that industries other than food and medicine in the corridor have reduced their production.

“Industries producing construction materials, textiles, garments, alcohol have been extremely affected," he said, adding, “Tthese industries have cut down their production by half." 

According to Rajesh Kyal, owner of Narayani Rolling Mills, the demand for construction materials has gone down as the construction works have been stalled. "Most of the industries that produce construction materials have cut down production as the demand for construction materials have started to decline," said Kyal.

There are about three dozen construction materials industries in this corridor.  Around 1,000 small and large scale industries are operating in Bara and Parsa.

The prohibitory orders enforced in various districts from April 29 have been extended time and again. This has further resulted in the decline in market demand. Traders have switched to the option of cutting down production instead of storing the produced materials. Seventy-six districts have currently enforced prohibitory orders.

According to the industrialists, increase in the death toll from the second wave of coronavirus has heightened the panic among the public. During the previous lockdown, fear of the pandemic was much less though mobility was highly affected. This time, people are more scared so workers have stopped coming to industries due to fear of contracting the virus.  "Industries are also dealing with the crunch of human resources which has affected production," he said. 

Some industries in the corridor have announced relief packages as the risk of contracting virus is ever-increasing. "The Prestige Group has announced to provide compensation equal to one year of basic salary to the family in case of death of a worker deployed in industry," said Vinay Shah, managing director of the Group.

Anup Agrawal, president of the Nepali Young Entrepreneurs Forum Birgunj, said that most of the industries are reeling under the lack of recurrent capital due to the market closure. Prohibitory orders have not only cut down the demand but has also halted the collection of dues, which has affected the cycles of recurrent capital, he said.