Power failure: hit hard,industry raps MSEDCL

Even as the small-scale industries in Pimpri-Chinchwad are charting their path to recovery after a year of downturn,the two days of heavy rain have jolted them severely.

Even as the small-scale industries in Pimpri-Chinchwad are charting their path to recovery after a year of downturn,the two days of heavy rain have jolted them severely. The power supply,which was failed on Tuesday evening,was restored fully only by Thursday morning.

Many of the 6000 small-scale units had to shut down their units on Wednesday,which led to huge production losses.

Suresh Mehtre,chairman of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Small Industries Association (PCSA),pegged the loss at Rs 500 crore. He said that due to flooding,material stored at some units was damaged.

Vikas Takawne,chairman,Sideshwar Industries,said,The electricity network completely collapsed in the industrial township after rains. The MSEDCL has no system of preventive maintenance. The electricity supply lines in the industrial township should be shifted underground on a priority basis.

Mehtre said that the MSEDCL staff does not respond in case of a complaint,that is why the PCSA organised protests at their office many times.

Last week there was a power breakdown in Chikali and Kudalwadi for four hours,many industries in those areas were affected due to this.

In spite of charging us high rates for electricity supply,the MSEDCL does not maintain its feeders and transformers properly and does shoddy repairing work. The situation is so bad that if it rains,industrialists take it for granted that the power would go off,he said.

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Why should we pay reliability charges if the electricity supply is not reliable? Such power breakdowns hit sthe industrial units hard as they have low inventory capacity and are not able to meet suppliers demands. It also affects the lakhs of workers who get paid on a daily basis, he said.

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