The small-scale industries here have appealed to the Union Government to make changes in the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) announced on March 26 so that the Provident Fund relief it has announced benefits all the industries.
Coimbatore District Small Industries Association president R. Ramamurthy said the Centre proposed to pay the entire 24% of the Employees Provident Fund contribution on the monthly wages for the next three months.
Most of the eligible employers had uploaded the data on EPF portal. But only a few received acknowledgement for it.
Gross wages
The request by several employers was denied as the industries calculate wages as basic pay and Dearness Allowance. But the scheme is looking at gross wages. And this makes most of the employers ineligible for the scheme, he said.
The Government should amend the scheme so that wages is calculated as basic and DA and not earned wages.
Mr. Ramamurthy also urged the banks to extend loans to the MSMEs so that they are able to operate the industries.
In a representation to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the Joint Council of Associations of Coimbatore, appealed to the State Government to defer the payment of electricity charges by LT, LT CT and HT electricity consumers for March by a month from the date of resumption of normal working by the industries.
The council also appealed to the Chief Minister to advise the Tangedco to calculate the electricity consumption data for March and April after the industries resume production and give time of one month from the date of resumption of work.
The Government should waive off the MD charges for the lockdown period, the industry associations said.
