Once-booming material recycling industry has come to a standstill after the lockdown, bringing thousands of traders to the brink of bankruptcy as they face mounting levies from shipping liners and freight stations for stuck containers despite the government giving waivers, an industry body said.
Around 2.5 lakh containers containing imported scrap are lying at various ports of the country waiting for clearances ever since the lockdown began, says material recycle producers body MRAI. The industry that gives direct and indirect employment to 25 lakh people, is staring at a huge financial crisis with dimming hopes of a revival from coronavirus-induced lockdown, it said.
A Gujarat-based trader said around 100 containers of scrap metal imported by him are lying at Gujarat’s Mundra Port for want of clearances due to the lockdown imposed to contain the new coronavirus infection. “My scrap imported from Europe and Singapore is worth about Rs 5 crore and with duties, it comes to Rs 6 crore.
“Now I have been slapped with demands worth Rs 5 lakh per day as charges from the container freight station (CFS) and shipping lines besides lakhs of rupees pertaining to other charges for flouting norms…The situation is such that I along with others are at the brink of bankruptcy.” About 20 workers and their families dependent on him are staring at starvation, he said.
Sanjay Mehta, the President of Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI), told PTI that about 10,000 recycling units in the country sustaining the livelihood of 25 lakh people directly or indirectly are at the verge of closure despite relief measures announced by the government.
The government issued an order for the waiver of rent and other charges but shipping lines and container freight stations (CFS) are openly flouting the order, Mehta alleged. He cautioned that if the government failed to take immediate steps this would result in huge NPAs to banks. Around 25 lakh people are dependent on the recycling industry based on paper, steel, aluminium, copper, brass, zinc and lead imported as scrap, Mehta said.
“About 2.5 lakh containers are lying at India’s ports for clearances…In the extraordinary situation, delays are happening in procuring papers from banks, courier and other formalities but the shipping lines and CFS have refused to waive levies despite clear-cut orders from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Shipping.
Industry body FICCI also sought Shipping Ministry’s attention towards non-compliance of official orders by shipping lines and port terminals for waiving charges but to no avail.
“If these orders are not strictly implemented by CFSs, then it is estimated, that this might lead to NPA of Rs 2 lakh crore and a direct job loss of 20 lakh low-strata people working in recycling and secondary sectors,” the MRAI has said in a letter to the government.
