PEENYA:South East Asia’s biggest industrial estate Peenya is reeling under severe power shortage. The annual turnover from the estate, which exceeds `20,000 crore including overseas business of Rs 8,000 crore, has taken a hit as a result.
Jayaramu, president of Peenya Industries Association, said, “The government is not keen on supporting the industry that is the state’s biggest revenue generator. A similar power crisis developed under the previous regime but it was handled much better. At present, it is an uphill task for industries to meet the production demand. Power cost have has gone up by about 30 per cent.”
To meet this crisis, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) will implement a staggered power cut schedule in its jurisdiction from Wednesday, BESCOM officials said.
There are around 8,500 micro, small and medium enterprises in the cluster and around 1,000 large industries. The total employment generated by the cluster is at least 9 lakh, and about 5 lakh employees are women from rural areas.
The power cuts have also forced the employees to work longer hours. The continuous processing plants have been hit worst. Sudheer, a worker from Jharkhand, said, “The power cuts have affected my plant. The owners are unable to sanction leave to workers as they have to meet the demand.”
Also affected are the industries in the rural areas of Bengaluru like Ramanagaram, which come under BESCOM. Industries in these areas say they are facing load shedding of at least four hours.
Giri M M, secretary of Peenya Industrial Association, said, “After a discussion with the MD of BESCOM, we have agreed to staggered holidays of one day in a week for up to two months. Soon after the meeting, BESCOM announced a staggering schedule. But we are waiting for its implementation.”
While announcing the schedule, Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Managing Director of BESCOM, had said, “We have drawn up the schedule and will implement it soon after Dasara. This will help us save 150 MW of power.”