Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 6
As Punjab grapples with rising temperature, delayed monsoon and an unprecedented demand for power, restrictions on power-intensive industry have been extended further.
This has sparked a debate in the state with industry and trade questioning the government on “sacrificing industry at the altar of farmer politics”. With operations remaining shut for four days and unscheduled power cuts imposed for two days, industry has incurred huge loss, which is likely to hit the state’s economy hard.
As power situation continues to remain grim, large scale industry has been asked to shut operations till July 10. The orders for extending the power restrictions on the large scale industry, using over 100 KW load, in Central, North and West zones were issued by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) late last night.
The continuous supply industry has also been asked to use just 50 per cent of the sanctioned load/contracted load, from July 8-18.These units are so far allowed to use just 30 per cent of the contracted load.
“Even as the PSPCL continues to cater to the increase in agriculture load, the industrial economy is clearly going for a six because of power restrictions,” says AK Kohli, a Phagwara-based tools exporter and senior vice-president, Punjab Chamber of Small Exporters.
“Though the forced shutdown on industry ended yesterday, the numerous unscheduled power cuts of 30 minutes each are making it difficult to run operations smoothly. Earlier, industry would rue about costly power, now it’s only about power availability,” he adds.
Industrialists are worried that they will not be able to complete their orders in time and in this highly competitive environment and economic downturn could end up losing business. “For a unit having 50 workers, the per day loss is estimated at Rs 35,000. For how long can we sustain amid such losses? Should industry be sacrificed at the altar of vote bank politics?” says Badish Jindal, president, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association.
Many small and medium enterprises are actually flouting the restrictions and operating their units by drawing power, saying it is cheaper to give the penalty to PSPCL than to incur losses on account of no production.
The state’s power average demand in this paddy season has increased to 14,500 MW, while the supply has remained static at 13,200 MW. As the daily gap hovers between 1,300-1,500 MW, the state power utility has little option but to impose cuts on industry and on domestic and commercial consumers.
RS Sachdeva, a prominent industrialist and mentor of PHD Chamber, says: “Units making raw materials are located in different zones. With each zone having restrictions at different points of time, the entire supply chain is disrupted and industry will either lose out its orders or spend money on paying delayed delivery charges.”
Industry questions govt move