Apparel exporters seeks April-May wages for workers from govt to help them survive pandemic

New Delhi, Apr 21 (KNN) Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has requested the government to pay the wages of workers engaged in the Apparel Exporting industry for April and May to bail out the sector which is nearing a collapse in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.

“We humbly wish to inform that we are not in a position to pay wages for the months of April and May despite our best intention, as there is absolutely no production and no revenue stream,” AEPC Chairman Dr A Sakthivel said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also informed the PM that the industry has cleared all wages for March dutifully following the his request.

He said that the Government can pay wages from the funds available in the Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) Scheme, which has, as understood, huge reserves of about Rs 91,000 crores, as contributed by Employees and Employers.

Sakthivel said that the apparel exporting industry, which is the largest employer after agriculture, has been very badly impacted due to Covid-19 as principal export markets of USA and Europe are under lockdown since the past several weeks.

''The sector urgently needs a big stimulus package from the government,'' he added.