Shock therapy for Thane-Belapur industries

Units told to cut power consumption by 20% by February-end or face prolonged cuts

Industries in the Thane-Belapur industrial belt will have to cut down power consumption by 20 per cent by February-end. If the deadline is not met, these may have to face two days of power cuts per week.

At present, industries in the area have to face a power cut for one day per week to carry out maintenance work by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (Mahadiscom).

As per the directive of Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mahadiscom has asked the continuous processing units in the area to cut power consumption by 10 per cent and the non-continuous processing units by 20 per cent.

Mahadiscom carries out its maintenance works on Fridays, necessitating a power cut. Though earlier the timing for cutting power supply was 6 am to 6 pm, it was increased in January.

"On the last three Fridays, we had a power cut extending till 10:30 pm and it may increase further in the days to come," said Jayadevan K, joint secretary, Thane-Belapur Industries Association (TBIA).

There are three feeders in the belt. Of these, two are meant for the continuous processing units. Sources said if the new guidelines are not implemented, both these feeders will resort to power cuts.

Sources close to the development said that some units which do not have the necessary certificate for continuous processing are now rushing for it to escape the 20 per cent power cut. The District Industrial Centre in Thane and the state industries department are the two bodies issuing such certificates.

Surprisingly, last year Mahadiscom was planning to invest nearly Rs 25 crore to improve power infrastructure in the area for an uninterrupted, quality power supply.

In fact, the officials had claimed that nearly 20 per cent of the upgrade work was finished and by March end, the project was scheduled to be completed.

TBIA has an annual turnover of Rs 10,000 crore with an export potential of Rs 500 crore. In comparison with other industrial belts in the state, the Thane-Belapur industrial belt is in a much better situation in terms of revenue generation.

The transmission and distribution losses in the area have been low, a major reason why power cuts were not so severe here. But that now seems to be a thing of the past.