The industrial sector of Haryana, including the major hub of Manesar, has been badly affected by the fortnight-long power crisis. The state’s micro, small and medium enterprises have been particularly hard hit, with prolonged power cuts also disrupting water supplies to the industry, and making these units dependent on tankers to meet demand. has gone.
Manesar Industries Welfare General Secretary Manmohan Gaind said that continuous unscheduled outages for 30 minutes to an hour along with scheduled power cuts for 8-10 hours in the night had brought the industry, especially MSMEs, to their knees. organization. “This has been going on for the last two-three weeks. Such a power crisis is unprecedented. The power supply management of the government in the last four-five years has been excellent, but this summer the situation is very dire,” Mr Gaind said.
Adding to the industry’s woes, high fuel rates have made it difficult for factory owners to run diesel generator sets for long periods of time. “DG sets can be used for short periods of power backup and not for factory running for hours at a time. Moreover, with diesel prices reaching ₹100 per litre, the cost of running a DG set comes to around ₹30 per unit,” Mr Gaind said.
Onkar Singh Galla, owner of Hypnotic Clothing, Industrial Model Township, Manesar, said he operated a DG set for an average of about three hours every day to meet the power requirement of the unit. “There is no point in complaining because nobody listens,” argued Mr. Galla.
The supply of water to the industry in Manesar has also been affected due to prolonged power outages, as the water pump stations are not running at full capacity. Factory owners said they were forced to meet the demand through water tankers adding to the cost. Mr Galla said that while his unit was not facing any issue of water supply as it was close to the water pumping station, people away from the station were facing difficulties.
Narinder Chhikara, vice-president of Bahadurgarh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the situation in Jhajjar’s Bahadurgarh area is no different and power supply from the grid is available only for 6-7 hours, affecting production. He said the officials were giving assurances for the last 10 days, but there has been no improvement in the situation.
Bahadurgarh, a major industrial city in Haryana, has about 9,000 MSMEs, including footwear, automobiles, spare parts and industrial manufacturing units, which directly and indirectly employ about 7.5 lakh people.
Haryana Energy Minister Ranjit Singh has said that the state will get about 1,500 MW of additional power in 10 days. He said that at present three units of 250-250 MW each are running in Panipat, two units of 600-600 MW each in Khedar and two units of 300-300 MW each in Yamunanagar. Along with this, 1400 MW power is being arranged from Adani Power Plant. Mr. Singh said that additional power would be taken from Adani 1,000 MW, from Chhattisgarh 350 MW and from Madhya Pradesh 150 MW. Mr. Singh said that if needed, more electricity would be arranged from the market and there would be no shortage of electricity even during peak hours.