CICU condemns severe power cuts imposed on industrial sector

Ludhiana, July 13, 2013: Avtar Singh, General Secretary, Chamber of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU), Ludhiana in a statement issued here today said that despite tall claims of Punjab Government and Punjab State Power Corporation to make regular power supply, long duration power cuts have been imposed on industrial sector with effect from July 14 as under: 3 Weekly Off Days on General Industry (LS Consumer & Rolling Mills) consumers Fed from Cat-2 Feeders and 4 Weekly Off Days on Arc/Induction Furnaces consumers Fed from Cat-2, Cat-3 Feeders.

He further said that MSME industry in Punjab is already reeling under bad phase and suffering losses due to adverse economic scenario.  With these power cuts, majority of industrial units will become sick as they cannot cope with production losses and financial burden.

Upkar Singh, Joint Secretary, CICU said that MSME Sector is grappling with high interest rate and after adding operating cost, manufacturing units are left with very thin margins.  Industries have been forced to run their units on diesel generator sets, which is a very costly affair.  The entire industrial sector will suffer massively in terms of manpower and production.   The Industry will be worst hit as it has to pay for labour, bank interest and instalments and payment of excise and income tax even when the industry is not running due to these power cuts.  In the wake of these unprecedented power cuts, industrial sector will suffer daily production loss of Rs.1,000 crores.

They said that in order to meet the ever going demand for power, all available sources like Hydro, Thermal, Nuclear, Solar and Wind should be tapped on war-footing.  This has become indispensable to meet the present and future challenges for the growth and development of MSME industry.