In an ironic situation, industries in Himachal Pradesh have started to face the heat wave even as the state advertises itself as a power surplus state.
Industrialists in the Baddi-Barotiwala- Nalagarh region (BBN), which has the maximum concentration of industries in the state, revealed that this year they have been experiencing scheduled power cuts.
The industrialists said that with no clarity on the issue of continuation of the excise incentive for industries coming to the state after March 31 this year, the state government should pay attention to the industry’s power demands. Adequate power supply has been one of the major attractions for industries coming to the state. They blamed the power cuts in the industrial belts on the gap in demand and supply of power.
Advisor to BBN Industries’ Association Deepak Bhandari said there was a shortage of 18-20 per cent between the gap and supply of power for the industries in the BBN belt.
He blamed the fall in power generation and the spurt in influx of industries to the BBN region in the last four to five months for the paucity of power. He said the electricity department has failed to provide adequate infrastructure for the rise in demand for power as the number of industrial units increased in the state.
BBN industries’ representatives recently met Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and apprised him about the power situation.
Director of Power Regulation Sunil Grover said power generation this year has been less compared to the last year. There has been a 7-8 per cent gap between demand and supply this year. Power generation this year is only 19-19.7 million units daily as against the demand of 20.5-21 million units of electricity every day. This has resulted in a shortfall . The temperature this year has not been as high as the previous year. This has resulted in less discharge in the rivers this year and has impacted the power generation in hydropower plants.