No unplanned outages — PSPCL’s breather for Amritsar traders

Industrialists heaved a sigh of relief after Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) assured the former that there won’t be any unplanned power cuts for now.

Fed up with regular outages, most industrialists were considering shifting their units, saying they were suffering huge losses.

Over the past few days, unplanned power cuts lasting three to eight hours were being imposed in the Focal Point industrial area at night.This triggered anger among industrialists as manpower was rendered idle and dispatches delayed.

This prompted the Focal Point Industrial Welfare Association write a letter to Dr Basant Garg, chairman and managing director of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.

Seeking an immediate solution, association’s chief patron Kamal Dalmia said the industrialists understood the fact that load shedding was the reason behind power cuts. He added that they also knew that two thermal plants had been shut down, but unplanned power outages were pushing their machinery towards sickness.

Also, such power cuts result in high operation costs. At times, production is halted, wasting raw material.

The association said the industry should be notified about the power cuts that had to be imposed anyway.

Long and frequent power outages should be avoided; and power distribution planned. Association president Sandeep Khosla said the industry benefited the state government in terms of revenue and employment.

“It is unfair to burden industries in the name of power crisis. The association demanded that the PSPCL should intervene and tide over the crisis. Surinder Bains, Chief Engineer (Border Range), PSPCL, said there won’t be any power cuts today.

He added that the power demand from the agriculture sector would go down with the arrival of paddy in mandis.