Friday, December 05, 2025 | 06:41 AM ISTहिंदी में पढें
Business Standard
Notification Icon
userprofile IconSearch

Covid-19 crisis: 80% MSMEs in Sonipat hub await their turn to open

The first of a five-part series captures the restlessness of workers in Haryana's industrial clusters struggling to restart operations

msme, sme, manufacturing, jobs, salary, employees, workers
premium

Before the lockdown, workers were paid Rs 8,000-9,000 a month for nine hours of work per day. Now they will get the same salary for working 12 hours per day.

Shreya Jai Sonipat
The Kundli industrial area on the Delhi-Sonipat border, which houses more than 800 medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs), is still eerily quiet. Even after relaxation in lockdown norms and factories being permitted to swing back into action, more than 80 per cent of the units are shut. And those that are open, are working at sub-optimal pace.  

Standing outside a plastic packaging unit, Ritu, her face half-covered with dupatta, waits her turn so that her temperature can be checked, after which she will go through a sanitization process at the entry gate. All the factories that have opened up