Power woes ail khadi industry

The prices of khadi in north India have been taking a steep upward climb and most khadi units in UP, Rajasthan, Delhi and other north Indian states blame this to the rise in the prices of raw cotton slivers being supplied by the central sliver plant in Etah, about 85 km from Agra.

The khadi industry is almost completely dependent on cotton slivers produced in the six central sliver plants of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission spread all over the country.

Officials at the central sliver plant in Etah blame the rise in fuel prices for the hike in their product prices.

Talking to Business Standard, Central Sliver Plant Director RS Pandey said khadi prices were subject to the cost and availability of cotton sliver, and in north India, the plant in Etah was the only unit catering for the demands of over 250 khadi manufacturing units like Gandhi Ashrams, Khadi & Village Industries Centers and other linked units in places, including Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, and providing employment to about 40 thousand people.

Pandey said ever since the plant began production in 1997, there had been an acute shortage of power-supply despite getting about 2.5 km of power lines laid at the cost of Rs 26.06 lakh for 250 KVA of electricity.

This was because being connected to the rural feeder, the plant faced frequent powercuts and in 1999, electricity was finally disconnected by the UP Power Corporation Ltd without specifying any reason, he said.

Since then, he said, the plant had been running on diesel generators, which meant with every 1,000 units of electricity produced by the plant's internal generator, the price of cotton sliver shot up by Rs 3,000.

He said the plant's management had taken up this matter with the state consumer forum but by then, over the past six years, the prices of cotton slivers had risen by almost double due to the steep rise in diesel prices.

But the future maynot be bleak after all as Pandey said the management was now approaching a settlement with the UP Power Corporation Ltd for laying new power lines and reconnecting the plant to the industrial electricity feeder so that khadi prices can enjoy a downward spike soon.