Chennai: With the ongoing lockdown, which is in place for the past one month to check the spread of coronavirus, bringing industrial activities to a grinding halt, it looks like the Tamilnadu government is planning to boost the economy by allowing certain sectors to function with restrictions.
Today, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had a video conference with top business leaders of the State, including TVS chairman Venu Srinivasan, Murugappa chief Vellaiyan and Council for Leather Exports chairman P R Aqeel Ahmed among others, to discuss allowing industries to function in a phased manner, based on the guidelines issued by the Central government.
Also, an order issued by Revenue and Disaster Management department said, “based on the requests from the industries for clarifying the list of industries that can be classified as continuous process industries, the Government after careful examination identified the following industries as continuous process industries.”
According to the order, the identified industries are Refineries, Large Steel Plants (including TMT bar manufacturers), Large Cement Plants, Continuous Process Chemical Industries including paints, Sugar Mills, Fertilisers, Float Glass Plants, Large Foundries with Continuous process, Trye manufacturing plants, and large Paper Mills.
It added: “Further it is ordered to permit the skeletal staff for essential maintenance of all closed industrial units to ensure the safety of the machinery/installations”.
Sources said the above industries would be allowed to function with restrictions and social distancing norms.
Tamilnadu is showing progress in its fight against Covid-19. A total of 33 people tested positive on Wednesday taking the number of coronavirus cases in Tamilnadu to 1,629. There was more than 50 per cent reduction in the number of positive cases Wednesday when compared to 76 cases Tuesday.
No deaths were reported on Wednesday as the corona toll stood at 18 in the State. An official release here said of the 33 cases, Chennai reported a maximum of 15 cases.
Other positive cases were reported from Thanjavur (5), Madurai (4), Ariyalur & Tiruvallur (2 each), Dindugul, Kancheepuram, Trichy, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram (one each).
A total of 27 people were discharged Wednesday as those returned home after treatment went up to 662 which was about 40.63 per cent of the total positive cases reported in the State.