The Adityapur based industrial belt is facing tough time as the popular Tusu and Makar Sankranti festival is being celebrated by the large section of the people.

The labour intensive small scale units (SSI’s) in the Asia’s leading industrial hub are hit by a shortage of the workers. According to an estimate, about 80 percent of the workforce in the industrial area is on leave for celebrating the State’s most popular festival.

The popular trend is that workers of the 1,000 odd small and medium scale companies go on leave for about a week and this period causes enough problem to the companies vis-à-vis production.

S N Thakur, former president, Adityapur Small Industries Association, (ASIA) said that the like every year, this year too industries are hit by labour crisis. The work orders are at the peak but the lack of workforce is hitting 

According to the conservative estimate, the industries, particularly the small and medium scale units ,are likely to incur a production loss of Rs 100 crore owing to the trimmed production.

“We have not any official data but by conservative estimate, I would say the companies would suffer a production loss of about Rs 100 crore and I tell you I am not including the names of the relatively big companies like Usha Martin and TGS,” said a senior functionary of ASIA.

The companies, operating in the jurisdiction of the Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority, (AIADA) observe workers are largely from the fringe areas of the Seraikela district. Therefore, during the festival season, especially during the Tusu festival, majority of the workers go home to be with their families and enjoy the celebration.

“They (workers) work for petty salaries throughout the year and if they go home for celebration once in 12 months, what’s so big about it. I would say the companies should rather give them bonus money to add icing to the cake during the festival,” said a BJP activist.

It may be noted that the sprawling Adityapur Industrial Area houses over 1200 units- including 11 large-scale, 64 small scale and 166 tiny industries.

A few important industries that have global presence are Usha Martin Group, RSB Group, Tata Steel Growth Shop(TGS) etc., are  too situated in this industrial belt, situated in Seraikela-Kharsawan.

There are 20 industries, which export its products to the USA, Australia and other European countries.