Present tense, future shaky for Bengal small factory hub amid Covid crisis

The 500-odd foundry units in Howrah operate largely with contractual workers.

Sanat Khan, 35, is on tenterhooks. The foundry unit where he works reopened about a week ago after remaining shut for a month due to various restrictions put in place by the West Bengal government to contain the second wave of Covid-19.

“I got paid half the wages for a month,” he says. He somehow managed to make ends meet. But what is now gnawing at him is this question: will there be another round of restrictions or intermittent lockdowns? Khan, who makes Rs 400 a day, can’t afford even a day’s shutdown.

But he may still be better off