More than 300 micro, small and medium enterprises of Balidih’s Bokaro Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) in Bokaro and Kandra industrial area of Govindpur in Dhanbad are facing practical problems such as lack of raw materials, minor mechanical and electrical parts, transportation of raw materials, to restart the industries.

This despite the relaxations provided by the Union home ministry to open the closed industries outside the municipal areas with certain riders from April 20.

Only 35 of the total 300 industries have started operations in Balidih industrial area and around a dozen of the total 70 industries in Dhanbad have started functioning in Kandra industrial area of Govindpur.

Taking cognisance of the problems being faced by the industrial unit owners of the special industrial areas, a meeting of the industry department led by secretary Prawin Kumar Singh and director Kripanand Jha from Ranchi and other industry leaders was held through video conferencing on Wednesday evening.

The unit owners from across the state were present at the meeting.

Mahesh Kejriwal, the president of Jharkhand Industries Association, said: “We raised the issue of lack of smaller hardware, mechanical and electrical equipment creating practical difficulties in continuous operation of the industries. We asked the officials to ensure supply of these material by opening the units.”

Kejriwal, who owns a rubber roll factory at Balidih in Bokaro that supplies its finished product to Bokaro Steel Limited, said: “We are facing the problem of lack of raw material because it used to come from Howrah (Bengal) and because of complete lockdown in Howrah he will not be in a position to continue work.”

“The biggest problem raised by the industry owners during the meeting was police stopping vehicles carrying raw materials as the cops don’t even allow movement of non essential-items because of lack of awareness,” said Kejriwal.