Workers to owners count losses as Bengal's small factory hub shuts down

Howrah is the hub for castings, machine parts, forged and assembled parts and it caters to India and the world.

About 200 units between Belgachia on the national highway to Howrah shut down at 5pm on March 23 when West Bengal went indoors to contain the spread of coronavirus, two days before India shuttered for three weeks. The scene at the small and medium factories along Benaras Road is now familiar across India: security guards, neatly parked trucks and workers who live nearby idling in alleys.

Jaladhar Singh, an employee of a spare parts unit, got his salary the weekend before the lockdown. It was the last time he heard from his employer. The unit employs about 200-250 people, but