Noida, May 28 (KNN) The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have got permissions to operate in Uttar Pradesh, however, they are facing lot of difficulties on the ground level in some districts, Indian Industries Association (IIA) apprised Navneet Sehgal, the Principal Secretary, MSME & Export Promotion, Uttar Pradesh.

In a video conferencing meeting, Pankaj Kumar, President, IIA, said liquidity being one of the main issues for MSMEs, can be resolved by solving Delayed Payment issue and through quick GST refunds.

The IIA selected Chapter Chairman fr0m different zones of UP – Western, Eastern, Central to inform the Principal Secretary about the ground problems in their areas.

Pankaj Kumar said that migration of labourers to other states has created a workforce problem for the industrialists.

Hailing UP Govt’s move to register the migrant labourers returning to the states and mapping their skill, IIA President suggested that an employment exchange portal can be created with the help of IIA to connect MSMEs with labourers with required skills.

Highlighting another major issue, Pankaj Kumar said the announcements have been made by the central government about different packages for MSMEs but the banks are not following them saying they do have the guidelines in hand.

After giving a patient hearing the issues raised by industrialists, Sehgal said Lockdown was an unprecedented event. Government wants to save the lives of people and also wants the economic activities to begin.

He said the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked all the district officials about issues being faced by the industries in their areas and he is all for resolving them.

Regarding the problems with the banks, Sehgal said, the officials are in talks with the banks to address the issues as soon as possible.

He said the UP Government has created an app and portal called MSME Saathi through which the issues faced by the MSMEs are being resolved at the earliest.

MSMEs can write about their problems related to banks, GST or any other department on MSME Saathi and that will be taken up with the concerned department’s top officials. The issues are then addressed effectively. Started in April last week, as many as 300 issues have been resolved through MSME Saathi so far.

Sehgal also said that UP Government is planning to come up with a MSME Act. Under the MSMEs will get approval letter within 48 hours for setting up a new industry. After that the entrepreneur will not be asked to take any approvals for 1000 days.

UP Government is also in talks with MNCs and big companies to collaborate with UP MSMEs.

Regarding the migrant labourers, Sehgal said skill mapping of around 10 lakh labourers have been done so far. UP Government is working on getting jobs to them

In his concluding remarks, he urged the industries to follow all the guidelines issued by the government on Corona. He requested the industrials to follow social distancing norms.

Sehgal also asked the MSME entrepreneurs to not do layoffs and assure the labourers that the work at factories have started. (KNN Bureau)