The industrial sector here will face the heat as the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) imposed power regulatory measures from Friday.
In view of the week monsoon and the high demand for power, peak load exemptions granted to consumers were withdrawn by the PSPCL with immediate effect by a circular issued on Friday.
The PSPCL also extended the peak load hours from three to 12, in the central zone, Ludhiana, from 8 pm to 8 am. Now, the industries can’t work in these peak load hours.
PSPCL central zone chief engineer Rashpal Singh said these regulatory measures were not applicable to the essential and other exempted category consumers. He said that with these measures now they could maintain supply to the household consumers.
Meanwhile, the industrial sector raised objections against these regulatory measures. Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisations (FICO) chairman Gurmeet Kular said, “This decision is like breaking the backbone of industries. We were paying Rs 2.70/ kv/hour/day more, other than the total consumption to the PSPCL for the peak load hours. A power cut for 12 hours is too much.” He said the industry was already short of labour and thus managing labour in one shift instead of the three would be a challenge.
United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) Ludhiana president Charanjit Singh Vishivkarma said, “This is not beneficial for the state’s business and economic environment. The bicycle industry is already going through difficulties and thus power cut at this time would badly affect the industry in Ludhiana.” He said these cuts had also raised questions on the government’s credibility as it claimed to be a power-surplus state. A delegation of UCPMA met chief engineer Rashpal Singh on Friday and submitted a memorandum against the decision.
{{/usCountry}}United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association (UCPMA) Ludhiana president Charanjit Singh Vishivkarma said, “This is not beneficial for the state’s business and economic environment. The bicycle industry is already going through difficulties and thus power cut at this time would badly affect the industry in Ludhiana.” He said these cuts had also raised questions on the government’s credibility as it claimed to be a power-surplus state. A delegation of UCPMA met chief engineer Rashpal Singh on Friday and submitted a memorandum against the decision.
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