Punjab, one of the leading states of India and having textile and apparel hubs like Ludhiana, Amritsar, is facing unprecedented shortage of electricity. The state is witnessing 6 to 12 hours of power cut.
The factories are forced to stop operation and are witnessing huge loss of production. Industrialists have been up in arms against the Government for forced weekly offs and restricted industry activities till 11 July due to power shortage.
Ongoing paddy season and scorching heat are amongst the main reasons for the rising demand of electricity.
One unit of Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL) has been on forced outage due to a turbine breakdown. Another unit has developed a technical snag and the third one is operating at half capacity due to some technical issue. This has resulted in shortage of nearly 2,200 MW in the state.
Meanwhile, the industry in Ludhiana has flayed Punjab State Power Corporation Limited’s (PSPCL) exemption to Amritsar textile units.
Amritsar’s textile industry has been considered as a ‘Continuous Process Industry’ and has been exempted from the mandatory weekly off.
The Federation of Industrial & Commercial Organisation (FICO) has opposed this ‘partial behaviour’ of the Government and PSPCL. KK Seth, Chairman, and Rajeev Jain, General Secretary of FICO said, “Why is the industry in Amritsar being exempted? We fail to understand such biased approach.”
A. Venu Prasad, CMD, PSPCL said that in order to meet with the unprecedented rise in demand keeping in view the constraints of the power system, PSPCL is purchasing maximum available power from the open energy exchange market.
