Surat's diamond industry resumes with reduced workforce amid Covid; waiting for Mumbai

Amid fourth phase of lockdown with certain relaxations to resume business activities in parts of state,  diamond industry in Gujarat's Surat opened on Tuesday. industry is operating with a reduced workforce as per guidelines set by government to contain spread of contagion.

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Nilesh Bodke, who is associated with diamond industry, said that this sector is resilient and will overcome impact of COVID-19 lockdown in 2-3 months.

" diamond market opened today, after anuncement of state government, but it will take at least 2-3 months for industry to start its functions rmally. Majority of labourers who work in se industries have returned back to ir vills and will t come back in near future. On or hand, monsoon season is about to start and se labourers will most probably return after ploughing ir land in vills," Bodke told ANI.

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Bodke furr opined that diamond industry in Surat might face difficulties as market in Mumbai has still t reopened for business. He also hoped that  situation would improve gradually.

" market in Mumbai has t started operating yet, which makes it difficult for industry in Surat to function. re are options to export or import diamonds and hence industry cant function rmally in given scenario. situation will improve in future. workers in diamond industry are very hard-working and do t shy away from putting more than 12 hours if required," he said. 

READ | Gujarat's COVID-19 cases go up by 391 to 11,380; deaths 659

COVID-19 situation in Gujarat

Gujarat is one of worst-hit states for vel coronavirus infection. On Tuesday state reported 395 fresh COVID-19 cases and 25 deaths, including 21 in worst-hit Ahmedabad, taking overall case count to 12,141 and number of fatalities to 719, a Health department official said. Besides Ahmedabad, two deaths were reported from Surat while one fatality each was reported from Aravalli and Gandhinagar, official said.

A total of 239 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking total number of recovered patients to 5,043, official said, adding that state has 6,379 active cases, 49 of m in a critical condition. A total of 1,54,674 samples have been tested so far in Gujarat, including 5,865 samples in last 24 hours, said Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi.

With 256 new detections, Ahmedabad w accounts for 8945 of total 12,141 cases in state and 576 of total 719 fatalities. Fresh cases were reported from 21 districts, including Surat (29), Kutch (21) and Vadodara (18), Ravi said, adding that total case count in Surat and Vadodara w stands at 1,156 and 700, respectively.

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(With ncy inputs)