Facing losses due to power cuts, Noida industrialists write to agencies

Entrepreneurs of the city have written a letter to the electricity department and the Noida authority, holding the two agencies responsible for frequent power breakdowns in their areas.

Entrepreneurs of the city have written a letter to the electricity department and the Noida authority, holding the two agencies responsible for frequent power breakdowns in their areas. In the letter, the entrepreneurs claimed that industrial units in Phase 2 have suffered production losses in the past many days due to the outages.

Tree branches covering wires are one of the prime reasons of frequent breakdowns, say industrialists. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The entrepreneurs appealed to the two agencies to take steps for improving the situation at the earliest.

The entrepreneurs said tree branches covering wires are one of the prime reasons of the frequent breakdowns. The other reason, they said, is old transformers which need to be replaced.

There are nearly 2,000 industrial units, mostly garment and plastic factories, in Phase 2 Industrial Area located in sectors 80 to 88, Phase 2 Extension and Hosiery Complex.

The entrepreneurs said there were five to seven breakdowns on Friday and Saturday, because of which production in many units had to be shut down.

“The sudden power cuts cause immediate and automatic shutdown of plants, thereby hampering production. This results in huge losses to the factories. In the past seven days, we have suffered frequent breakdowns. The shutdowns due to the power cuts have caused 10 to 12% production loss, besides other problems,” said Harish Joneja, managing director of a factory.

Annoyed by the frequent breakdowns, the entrepreneurs of Phase 2 have appealed to the Noida Entrepreneurs Association (NEA), the apex body of entrepreneurs representing nearly 8,000 industries of the city, to take up the issue with the Noida authority and electricity department strictly.

“I have appealed to all members to calculate production and other losses and keep a record of breakdowns from now. We will meet Noida authority chairman Rama Raman and Mukul Singhal, superintending engineer, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited,” said Vipin Malhan, president, NEA.

Malhan said the entire industry is facing production losses these days.

Singhal said, “Tree pruning can help check breakdowns. I have also written to our officials in the Meerut zone for providing us with 25 new transformers to improve the electricity infrastructure.”

Om Vir Singh, director, horticulture department, Noida authority, said he has received several complaints about tree branches covering electricity wires, causing breakdowns during windy weather and rain.

“I am likely to hold a meeting on Monday and take the needful action,” said Singh.

Noida has been facing frequent and long power cuts for the past two months. The outages are causing a lot of problems to the residents during the peak summer. It problem has also affected water supply in many residential sectors.