Chennai: Top industry captains from the State urged Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami for partial opening of industrial units, at least in critical sectors.
On Thursday, the Chief Minister held a discussion with leading industrialists in the State via videoconference.
India Cements Ltd vice-chairman and managing director N Srinivasan informed Palaniswami that transporting cement was main problem during the ongoing lockdown and the company can resume operation once permission was granted to it.
Srinivasan said each industry has its own problem in resuming operations. As far as the cement industry is concerned, transporting cement was the main problem as trucks are stuck midway and there were no drivers because of the Covid-19 lockdown.
“Cement industry has no problem in producing and selling cement. It can resume operation once the permission is obtained,’ Srinivasan said. The cement industry would face enormous difficulty in raising funds and paying salary to employees in future if the lockdown continued,” he said.
“However, we will strictly follow the protocols on social distancing, on who should enter the factory, safety of employees and also the standard operating procedures prepared by the company as per official guidelines,” he said.
He lauded the government for the steps taken by it in controlling the spread of coronavirus in the State.
Venu Srinvasan of TVS Motors; R Dinesh of TVS Supply Chains; Vellayan Subbiah of Murugappa Group; PR Venketrama Rajah of Ramco Cements and Aqeel Ahmed of Council of Leather Exports among others took part in the video conference.