1,500 industries, 100 construction projects can resume work in Noida: CEO Ritu Maheshwari

As many as 1,500 industries, which employ around 70,000 people, and 100 construction projects that will need at least 8,000 labourers have been allowed to resume work in Noida. But 1,800 applications have been turned down as they didn’t meet COVID-19 norms, Ritu Maheshwari, the chief executive officer of Noida Authority, tells Moneycontrol’s Vandana Ramnani in an interview.

Edited excerpts:

Q) How many industries have been given the go-ahead to resume work?

The process is ongoing and as per the government’s guidelines, we are regularly getting applications and processing them. These include both industries and construction projects. As many as 1,500 industries in the Noida Authority area have been granted permissions to resume work. These employ a workforce of over 70,000. There are around 1,100 industries by Noida Authority (employing 62,000 labourers) and 400 industries through the MSME department.

Q) Have some construction projects also been granted permission to restart work?

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Yes, 100 construction projects, both government and private, employing close to 8,000 to 9,000 labourers have been given the go-ahead to resume work. These include 60 group housing and commercial projects and around 32 to 40 Noida Authority projects.

Q) When is work likely to resume?

Permissions are being issued to industries and construction firms. They are allowed to start operations immediately after receiving permissions.

Q) Have some applications been rejected by Noida Authority and why?

So far, 1,800 applications have been rejected. There are two reasons behind the decision. The first condition is that industries cannot be run in containment areas. That has been done at the level of incident commander which is the SDM (sub-divisional magistrate). The second criterion is that there are only few categories of industries that are allowed as per the government orders in the red zone districts in Noida. Those industries not in the permissible category have also been rejected.

Q) How will the authority ensure that norms are being complied with?

The first prerogative of the team is to grant permissions to industries and construction companies, wherever it is permissible.

Broadly, all permissions are being granted with conditions of social distancing, sanitisation of their campus, use of masks and random testing as and when the industry resumes operations. It is for the industries to comply. It is for their safety and the safety of the citizens.

In COVID times, we can’t check each and every industry and there is no such team to do so. As many as 6,000 applications have been received and everybody who is getting rejected is applying multiple times. It is an unending process and the industry department cannot check 1,500-odd industries.

The focus is on self-discipline currently. But once all permissions have been granted, we may look at the issue of compliance. Our first priority is to get the industries restarted. The industry department is currently dealing with only granting permissions and rejections. Once the process is streamlined, the second stage could involve randomly checking a few of the industries and ensuring that COVID-19 norms that include social distancing are being maintained.

Having said that, if there is violation, the industry would be closed again and then it may take a long time to resume work. It is, therefore, up to them to take precautions.

There have been several guidelines that have been issued to industries and the government has said permissions have to be granted on a declaration and that is what we are doing.

It has to be both ways, we have to resume economic activity and we have to ensure safety. There has to be a balance between the government and the specific industry. Both have to be cautious. We are constantly interacting with associations and asking them to abide by the norms.