Faridabad industrialists irked by frequent power blackouts

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, September 19

Frequent power outages here have become a cause of worry for the owners of industrial and manufacturing units. With no relief in sight because of the regular disruptions, the routine operation of units has been badly affected.

Poor infrastructure and a weak distribution network are to be blamed for the problem, said sources within the industrial sector.

Outages stretching to four hours

On an average, the power supply gets disrupted for two to four hours on any given day. This is a cause for concern for many manufacturing units here. This adds to our production and manufacturing costs.

Virender Mehta, Entrepreneur

“On an average, the power supply gets disrupted for two to four hours on any given day. This is a cause of concern for many manufacturing units here,” said Virender Mehta, an entrepreneur.

He added that this adds to the production and manufacturing costs, as the factories have either to stop work or depend on alternative sources of power. The units near the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) were without power supply for one whole day recently, Virender said.

“We are worried about the situation after October 1, when the usage of diesel-operated gensets will be no longer allowed,” says Rajiv Chawla, president, Integrated Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (IAMSME), the body which represents several hundred units here.

Blaming the poor distribution network, Rajiv said sometimes, six to 10 power outages are reported daily. The duration of these outages is between 30 minutes and one hour.

Partosh Sharma, manager, Faridabad Industries Association (FIA), said frequent breakdowns have become the order of the day in industrial as well as residential sectors.

GS Tyagi, president, Faridabad Small Industries Association (FSIA), said the situation had failed to improve despite the tall claims about a sound power supply infrastructure made every now and then by the government.

He said the government should focus on providing good quality power infrastructure and avoid taking any decision without resolving the issues faced by stakeholders.

Converting or replacing diesel gensets was not only costly but also impossible due to the unavailability of uninterrupted power supply in many areas, Tyagi added.