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Ludhiana: To ease power crisis, PSPCL plans new 66-kV substations
On September 4, residents gathered at the Focal Point, Meharban, Tajpur Road, Singla Cycle Road, and GT Road 66-kV grids after a scheduled night cut was extended until morning, affecting residential areas linked to industrial feeders
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Grappling with prolonged power cuts of up to 14 hours that have disrupted industrial operations and triggered protests, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has initiated steps to set up new 66-kV substations across the city.
Industrial units in Ludhiana have faced mounting losses over the past two-and-a-half months due to sudden outages halting production cycles, forcing units to pay idle labour costs, and driving up expenses on expensive diesel generators.
The continuing disruptions have led to a series of protests across the city.
On September 4, residents gathered at the Focal Point, Meharban, Tajpur Road, Singla Cycle Road, and GT Road 66-kV grids after a scheduled night cut was extended until morning, affecting residential areas linked to industrial feeders.
Subsequently, on September 14, industrialists from 8 to 10 associations blocked National Highway-5 at Samrala Chowk for nearly two hours.
On the same day, members of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha staged a protest outside the PSPCL central zone chief engineer’s office, alleging that agricultural feeders were receiving only two to two-and-a-half hours of electricity instead of the promised eight hours during the paddy season.
Addressing the infrastructure bottlenecks, PSPCL chief engineer Jagdev Singh Hans said,”The state government, under the leadership of chief minister Bhagwant Mann and power minister Taranpreet Singh Sond, alongside PSPCL chairman Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, has launched measures to diversify the existing power load.”
“The work for setting up the new 66-kV substations will be started before next summer,” Hans said, adding that the estimated cost of establishing a single substation is approximately ₹7 crore to ₹8 crore.
Industry leaders, however, have emphasised the urgency of immediate relief. Ashok Makkar, chairman of the Punjab Dyers Association and president of the Ludhiana Dyeing Industry, noted that units are struggling with continuous 8 to 10-hour cuts.
“Labourers continue to come to work and have to be paid even when there is no electricity. When power goes off in the middle of production, it creates immense difficulties, while running generators adds heavily to our operational costs,” Makkar said.
Bobby Jindal, president of the association, added that the prolonged disruptions have severely compromised manufacturing schedules, making it increasingly difficult for local units to meet timely delivery commitments to clients.
Industry body raises issues with Ludhiana DC, seeks action in 15 days
The Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (FICO) on Tuesday sought immediate intervention of the Ludhiana administration to address a range of issues affecting the city’s industrial sector, including unscheduled power cuts, restrictions on industrial electricity supply, delayed GST refunds and civic infrastructure problems.
A FICO delegation led by its president Gurmeet Singh Kular met deputy commissioner (DC) Himanshu Jain during the single window meeting and raised the issues faced by industrialists in the city.
The delegation highlighted the impact of unscheduled power cuts on industrial production and also raised concerns over night-time blackouts and restrictions on industrial power supply.
FICO also sought faster processing of GST refunds, stating that this would help improve the working capital position of industrial units.
BOX: Planned 66-kV substation sites
Model Town DS division: Land purchased at SBS Nagar.
Focal Point DS division: Land purchased at Blind School, Phase-4A, and Sector-32.
Sundar Nagar DS division: Land purchased at Dana Mandi.
Aggar Nagar DS division: Land being taken on lease at Ayali and Jassian.
Estate DS division: Land being taken on lease at Jaspal Bangar.
