Extra load shedding pushes industries into the dark

Additional power cut increases production cost, affects workers

The additional power cut for industries, announced by the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) due to delayed rains, is likely to increase cost of production and result in losses for daily wage laborers.

The notification to keep industries in Gujarat closed for one more day, issued by the GEB, has been in effect from last Tuesday.

"Almost all of the small- and medium-scale industrial units are employing daily wage labourers and contract workers. In fact, it is the labourers who will get affected," said Nilesh Shukla, honorary secretary, Vadodara Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"Workers in mills, especially powerlooms, are paid according to the production. So the power cut will affect them more," said Naishadh Desai, president of Shramjivi Sevalaya, a workers' organisation, in Surat.

Additional power cut has resulted in reduced production. Most of the industrialists have chalked out plans to avoid disruption of their production schedule but they do not have any workable solution to overcome power shortage.

"We will use generators as we do not have any other option. The problem with generators is that it has to be stopped after every four hours," said Jayesh Patel, production in-charge, Matrix Telecom Pvt Ltd.

The cost of producing electricity using generator is eight to ten per cent higher than that of electricity supplied by the GEB, said Shukla. This will directly impact production costs, said Shukla.

The textile industry in Surat was in high spirits after the Budget but the situation turned different within a couple of weeks.

"The textile industry has been facing recession for the last several months. Due to abolition of Cenvat, the demand for textiles was on the rise in the last couple of weeks and we were hoping to reap benefits, but it seems that our plans have derailed now," said, Salim Sheikh, a leading weaver of Surat.

"The markets were looking up, but the decision to extend power cut for will reduce production and result in losses to us. The decision will also hurt workers as a large percentage of them are employed on a daily wage basis," said, Pramod Chaudhary, managing director, Pratibha Fabrics of Surat.

Various industrial bodies have represented their problems to the GEB.

Hareshbhai Vora, president of the Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the additional power cut imposed by the GEB will directly impact industries.

Foundry, oil engine and machine tool parts industries, which have recently received business orders, will be affected, said Vora. Industrial units in Rajkot are estimated to lose a total of Rs. 10 crore a month due to power cut.

Industry sources said unscheduled power cut by the GEB in various parts of Rajkot have been affecting manufacturing units.