3-day power cut cripples industry
Sanjeev Singh Bariana and Shivani Bhakoo
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 14
Already crippled by economic slowdown and erratic power supply, the industry in Punjab has received yet another jolt with the imposition of three-day power cut a week from Wednesday. The industry is suffering massively with the normal production falling to less than 50 per cent and hundreds of daily wage earners have been rendered jobless.

The development has affected the families of workers employed in hundreds of units all over the state, including Ludhiana (machinery and hosiery), Mandi Gobindgarh (steel), Jalandhar (sports), Amritsar (textiles) and Phagwara (small engines).

There are reports of a number of units having shifted from Jalandhar to Murthal (Haryana) and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh). There are also reports of more industry shifting to Uttarakhand and other states.

Machines are non-operational and the workers find it difficult to spend 72 hours being idle in a week. The export units are most severely hit with foreign companies refusing to take the
delayed orders.

The most affected are the daily wage earners because after three-day rest, the owners of industrial units prefer employing old workers.

VK Goyal, CEO of the Vardhman Spinning Mills, said: “The power cuts have a direct impact on employment and production. The export industry is suffering a heavy loss because of delayed delivery which also harms the image of our country”.

KS Rathore, organising secretary of the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, said: “Hundreds have been rendered jobless and have no option except for going back to their respective states. The industry is, slowly but definitely, shifting to Himachal Pradesh and other places in states with better electricity availability. Punjab, with no action plan for the industry in future in place, is no
longer the number one state in the country”.

Chanan Singh Matharu, owner of Steel Rolling Mill at Mandi Gobindgarh, said: “The state has no industrial policy. Nor has it given any incentive to the industry. Amid ongoing power cuts, the labour unrest has multiplied”.

President, Fastener Manufacturer Association, Narinder Bhamra said cuts were imposed by the PSEB on category II users, the industrial units. The production of their units had already come down to 50 per cent in the recent months. But, now with three-day weekly offs, they will not be able to get even 30 per cent production. Due to Late Delivery Clause (LDC), they had to pay heavy penalties from 5-15 per cent.

President of the Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry PD Sharma said if situation remained like this, the industry in the state would not be able to recover again.