Himachal: Industries Dept website faces outage, restored after 24 hours

Nahan, June 7

The website of the Department of Industries faced an outage for nearly 24 hours, causing a significant disruption in mining operations and halting the movement of thousands of trucks across the state.

The outage, which was reported on Wednesday evening, led to suspension in the issuance of transit passes (M Forms) by the department. This, in turn, brought mining production and related activities to a standstill, resulting in a substantial loss to businessmen and truck operators. The total loss is estimated to be in lakhs of rupees.

The IT cell of the Industries Department restored the website by 5 pm on Thursday.

Although the government receives revenue in advance, minimising its financial impact, the operational setback for businesses was considerable. Sirmaur district, home to about two dozen limestone mines, produces thousands of metric tonnes of limestone daily. This limestone is supplied to various states across the country.

As the website was down, trucks bound for other states were immobilised and the supply chains for numerous crushers and poultry industries were disrupted. The M Form is essential for the sale of aggregate and goods at crushers and industries, while specific forms, W and X, are required for both production and sale of limestone. The inability to issue these forms effectively paused all limestone-related business activities for nearly 24 hours.

Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, Mining Officer, Sirmaur, said the outage affected the entire state, but there was no loss of revenue to the government.