Strike may cost country Rs 20K crore, but who's listening?

, Feb 19: The Assocham on Tuesday urged the central trade unions to call off their two-day

for it feared that the shutdown might cost the country's economy Rs 15,000-20,000 crore.

Rajkumar Dhoot, president of Assocham said the economy is already plagued by a slowdown and calling a strike at this point of time is something that it can not afford. He said the strike will aggravate the price situation by disrupting the supply of essential commodities.

He added that the involvement of all five major central trade unions in the strike would mean that service sectors like banking, and financial sectors, tourism, and transport would be adversely affected. Key sectors like industry and agriculture would not be spared, either.

The Assocham assessed the national loss figures on the basis of daily decrease of about 30-40 per cent of the country's GDP for two consecutive days. Dhoot said states like Delhi, Maharahstra, Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh would be seriously affected by the shutdown.

The chamber said stalling of banking operations like cheque clearance, cargo operations and workforce movement would severely impact the economy. Dhoot said crippling work in key industries would not serve the country in any way.

He said it is necessary to work together to find a solution to problems like rising prices instead of calling strike which would only aggravate the economic woes.

Are the lovers of the nation listening?

OneIndia News