Coronavirus lockdown: DPIIT's control room resolved 1,739 issues of trade, industry so far

A control room set up by the DPIIT to monitor issues of trade and industry has resolved as many as 1,739 matters as on April 28, an official statement said on Thursday.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) established the control room on March 26 to monitor the issues of industry and trade, and take up such matters with the concerned state government, district and police authorities as well as other concerned agencies.

It monitors the issues in internal trade, manufacturing, delivery and logistics of essential commodities and difficulties faced by various stakeholders during the lockdown to resolve supply chain issues.

"Out of the total number of 1,962 queries registered till April 28, 1,739 have been resolved/settled. 223 are currently under resolution. Out of 1,962 queries registered, more than 1,000 queries were received from five states/UTs -- Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

It added that a dedicated team has been put in place to monitor and tracking the disposal of queries and to generate daily reports for information of senior officers in the department.

The team also closely tracks the important queries by calling up the affected people and obtains their inputs while taking up the matter with the concerned agency.

"This also helps in making an assessment about the efficacy of various agencies involved in resolution of issues. This team of professionals helps senior officers to know the impact of their interventions and thus keeps everyone apprised of the status of resolution of grievances," it added.

It also said that the queries are being received in the control room through telephone calls as well as email.

Any manufacturing, transporter, distributor, wholesaler or e-commerce companies facing ground level difficulties in transportation and distribution of goods or mobilization of resources can inform to the department through a telephone number + 91 11 23062487) and email id [e-mail]. The telephone number is functional from 8 AM to 6 PM.

"The control room has been receiving queries regarding ground level difficulties as well as the procedural and policy issues being faced by the manufacturers, transporters, distributors, wholesalers and e-commerce companies," the statement said.

After registering the queries, the DPIIT control room staff forward it to the state level control rooms and the Chief Secretary of the State with the request to initiate necessary action and ensure that the required relief is provided to the querists at the earliest.

It added that all the senior officers of the DPIIT have been assigned specific states with which they continuously interact and urge upon the state functionaries to initiate action on pending issues.

On March 24, the central government had announced a nationwide lockdown with a view to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus, while putting in place arrangements for ensuring that supplies of essential goods and services remain available to all citizens.