The Andhra Pradesh Cotton Association (APCA) has announced that all the spinning and ginning mills in the state would be shut down from November 5 unless the government ensured uninterrupted power supply.
The executive committee of the Association which held an emergency meeting here on Friday to discuss the power cut scenario unanimously passed a resolution to this effect.
Later, APCA vice-president Tulabandula Rangasai told newsmen that the industry incurred losses to the tune of Rs 150-200 crore per month in the recent past due to low or nil production, which in turn was because of power crisis.
The association members met chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy several times and explained their problems but nothing had happened, he added.
The state has 4,800 ginning, 200 spinning and 200 modern ginning mills employing about five lakh people directly and indirectly.
More than 60 percent of the spinning mills suspended their production and were on the verge of closure owing to power cuts, said APCA former president Gorantla Punnaiah Chowdary.
Association president Kamepalli Subba Rao, who owned a spinning mill, and another spinning mill owner committed suicide recently as they suffered huge losses due to power crisis, he alleged.