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| Night power cuts leave UP industries bewildered | | September 19, 2008 (India) |  |
The night power cuts in Uttar Pradesh is creating lot of trouble for the textile, jute and leather industry, as the entrepreneurs are unable to meet their production targets. Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has recently imposed power cuts on all industrial units from 10 pm to 6 am on a daily basis.
The industry has already started feeling the heat of shortage of electricity as these industries work round the clock and require constant supply for production purposes. The reason for the cut is the that there is a demand-supply gap of almost 2,000 Megawatts (Mw).
Fibre2fashion contacted Mr Sunil Kumar Jain, President, North India Textile Mills Association who asserted, “Already textile industry is facing many problems and now power cut has only added fuel to the fire. The Government must do something to bring relief to these sectors.
Expressing his worry over the troublesome situation Mr. Balwant Singh Kukaraja, MD, Royal Textiles Industries, Faridabad, stated, “We hope that the power shortage will be solved after the signing of nuclear deal. There are other problems also that are forcing the textile mills to close down like shortage of cotton.”
In order to fulfill the demand, UPPCL is importing power at the rate of Rs8 to 10 per unit; however, the demand doesn’t seem to reduce. Industry insiders blame poor infrastructure that has resulted in lack of electricity generation, as in the last five years the Government has failed to meet the ever rising demand.
Many of the textile, garment and leather units have shifted their base to other states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh that are offering attractive incentives and SOPs to the industrialists.
The total generation capacity of the hydro and thermal power units in Uttar Pradesh is about 2,500 Mw, and almost 3,000 Mw is imported from central sector, which is much below the peak hour demand in the state, which comes to around 7,000 to 7,500 Mw.
If the situation is not addressed immediately, industry insiders fear that they will have to close their units which will bring a negative effect on the economy of the State, which already is financially backward in comparison with other neighboring states.
| | | | Fibre2fashion News Desk - India |  |
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