Lockdown is not the panacea, says Bengaluru industry body

Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) on Sunday asked the State government to desist from imposing a lockdown again.

Devesh Agarwal, president, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said in a statement that the latest lockdown was an “extremely regressive step”. He said the government should allow industries to function with adequate precautions in place.

He also urged the government not to bring industries under the scope of the lockdown and expressed confidence that like in other cities such as Chennai, Pune, and Delhi, the government would allow industrial units to work. Industries have put in a lot of effort and resources to recover from the previous lockdowns and green shoots are slowly surfacing with GST collections nearly back to pre-lockdown levels, he said.

The trade body warned that a second lockdown could paralyse the morale of both management and workforce, and impose back-breaking losses on the vulnerable MSM sector.