The Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Ltd here increased power holiday for industrial units by a day from Wednesday, taking it to 3 per week, triggering protests by entrepreneurs.

Many of the units in the Visakhapatnam autonagar have been pushed into a huge crisis as production has fallen by nearly 50 per cent and they are unable to meet their commitments and complete the orders given by the bigger public sector units such as the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, BHPV and the Hindusthan Shipyard Ltd.

According to R. Narappa Reddy, President of the Visakha Autonagar Small-scale Industrialists’ Association, most of the units had already declared layoff and production had suffered badly.

“The small units cannot afford to have captive power. They are unable to pay salaries and meet other commitments. Unless the Government does something, most of the units will be forced to shut down. But unfortunately the State Government seems to be in a helpless position,” he said.

There are more than 600 small units in Visakha autonagar and they are facing power problems for the past six to eight months or so. It began with the general strike in Telangana region affecting coal production from Singareni Collieries. At that time, power holiday was imposed for four days a week and subsequently it was reduced to three. Only recently, it had been reduced to two with some improvement in the power position, but again from Wednesday it had been hiked by a day. Further, there are peak hour load restrictions.

B.V Rama Rao, President of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Industries (FAPI), said industrial units, small or big, would not be able to pay bank loans and employees’ salaries in the present position. He wanted a moratorium on bank loans for a year at least. Further, he wanted waiver of development charges. FAPI would hold a meeting here on September 4 to discuss the issue, he added.

Related Topics