The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : `1,000 SSIs were hit by tsunami'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 22, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

`1,000 SSIs were hit by tsunami'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, FEB. 21. At least one thousand small-scale units (SSIs) in processing of marine food, maintenance of fishing boats and supply of ice and fishing nets in the State were affected in the December 26 tsunami.

The number is based on initial estimates and the Tamil Nadu Small and Tiny Industries Association (TANSTIA) will shortly assess the exact loss.

Teams from the Association will be visiting the coastal areas, collect details of the affected units and submit a report to the State Government for follow-up action, according to a press release of the TANSTIA's executive committee meeting last week.

The committee underscored the need for the Government to provide exemption to SSIs with a turnover below a certain limit from payment of service tax, similar to the one existing for excise duty, and sought fine-tuning of the export promotion measures.

For promotion of agro industries, it felt dissemination of information was vital. Pilot industrial units must be organised in the midst of model organic farms.

Labour law reforms were also discussed at the meeting, which opposed the piece-meal approach of the State and Central Governments to the issue, said the release from the TANSTIA president, G. Balakrishnan.

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