Punjab industry cries foul as power shutdown extended by a day

With many factory owners willing to pay penalties to keep their units running, PSPCL increases fine for violation of orders by two-and-a-half times

Manufacturers in Punjab on Wednesday condemned the decision of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) to extend the three-day shutdown on industrial units by a day.

A delegation of industry bodies from various parts of Punjab met the PSPCL managing director seeking a breather, but to no avail.

With a number of industrialists willing to pay penalties to keep their units running, the corporation also increased the fine for violation of orders by as much as two-and-a-half times. Also, a delegation of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and other bodies from various parts of the state met the PSPCL managing director (MD) seeking a breather, but to no avail.

CII (Punjab) vice chairman Amit Thapar said the situation has turned from bad to worse. “There were many industrialists who in the absence of power back-up wished to operate and were willing to pay penalties to save export orders from being cancelled. They were threatened by PSPCL officials that their supply will be snapped,” said Thapar.

Shingora Textiles managing director Mridula Jain said, “Since Europe and the US are opening up now, the buyers are placing orders at the last minute. But with factories non-functional, the delayed shipments are to be shipped by air at our cost or we run the factories on generators incurring a daily expense of ₹2.5 lakh.”

The PSPCL had earlier announced power regulatory measure with three weekly-off days for general industry (large scale), rolling mills, arc and induction furnaces consumers from July 7 to July 10. With the fresh extension, the industries will now be shut till 8am on July 11.