Power pangs hit industrial output in region
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14
Erratic power supply in Punjab and Haryana has brought the industrial production in the region to a grinding halt. With the industry in the region having to face unscheduled power cuts and compulsory off days (36 hours in Punjab), industrial production has come down by 20 per cent.

Industrialists say that on the one hand they are hit hard by the recession, and on the other, the government is doing little to ensure a regular power supply. In today’s time, when we are facing a shortage in cash flow, it is becoming difficult to shell out more money for running the units on captive power. Since generation of captive power is three times more expensive than the power supplied by the state electricity board/power utilities, industry says they are now forced to dig in their cash reserves to generate power.

Rakesh Verma, an industrialist in Panipat, said though a thermal power plant was located in the city, they were forced to go without power for eight to nine hours at a stretch. “The situation is so bad that we have stopped calculating the hours when there is no power supply. We only calculate the hours when the state power utilities manages to ensure a regular supply,” he rued.

Verma said the poor power availability had led to many units in the city having to cut down on their production.

The worst affected is the industry located in urban areas, which is fed through the urban industrial feeders. These mixed use feeders also cater to the domestic consumers. Since power cuts ranging from six to eight hours have been imposed on the domestic consumers, the industry in these areas, too, faces similar cuts during the day.

A similar situation is reported in Punjab, where the power availability is just 43,000 MW as compared to a demand of almost 90,000 MW. “On the one hand, the Punjab government talks about bringing about a new industrial policy, but without adequate power availability, we will not be able to invite new industry to the state,” said Amarjit Goyal, chairman of Mandi Gobindgarh-based Modern Steels.

R S Sachdeva, a Mohali-based businessman and co-chairman of PHDCCI, said “We agree that there is a shortage of power. Only if the government were to regulate the power cuts, we would ask our labour to work in shifts when uninterrupted power is available. The exporters are the worst hit as they cannot finish their orders in time.”