Hyderababd:
In Andhra Pradesh, industry is trying to figure out how to manage with just four days of power a week. A three-day a week power holiday for industrial units began this week to cope with the huge gap in demand and supply that has been exacerbated over the last several weeks. The government says that this is an unprecedented crisis caused by not enough water in reservoirs because of erratic rainfall that hit hydel production and poor gas supply that snuffed the gas-based power plants.
At a bulb-making factory that had just re-opened in the Jeedimetla industrial belt after a three-day power hiatus, some workers were sent back home because even today power supply was erratic.
"After three days we opened, but even today we are having power cut problems. Even this morning, there was no power for two hours,'" says Dayanand Shah, the supervisor. He says the output of the factory has fallen by 40% since the electricity problems began.
That means not just daily wage earners are in danger of losing their jobs, even those who have been around for long, may lose job and salary. Rama has been working here for 12 years. The 35-year-old moved to Hyderabad from Visakhapatnam to afford a life and education for her two young sons. She has been told that the hours assigned to her are being curtailed. That will hit her salary by Rs 1000. "We came to Hyderabad for livelihood. But because of power shortage, we are not getting work. What am I and my children going to eat? Shouldn't the government think about us and our life,"' she asks.
Some 18 industrial estates in and around Hyderabad, many of them small-scale units, have said they are worried about going out of business if the power crisis continues.
"Overall we have about 2 lakh workers employed in small-scale units in the state and the total money invested is about 1,50,000 crores. That includes some 23000 crore rupees money from industry and the rest are loans from banks. It's all going waste and without power, we will all become non-performing assets, NPAs, within three months,'' says Vijay Kumar, who owns the bulb-making unit and was the president of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Association.
Devendra Surana, President of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI), says the 12 days in a month power holiday will force all the manufacturing concerns to shut their factories. "It would not be possible to run them in such a power-less situation. The other option is to step out and set up units in other States," he says.
He said the situation is alarming and serious steps need to be taken, as an estimated daily revenue loss of 300 crore rupees is being incurred. That would lead to closure of industries and job-loss.
He claimed that from September last year, there was 40-52 % continuous power cut. And now a 100 per cent power cut announced for the industry.
While the industry is worried about survival, things are not good for the domestic and agriculture sector either. In Hyderabad and two other major towns, there is a 3-hour scheduled power cut and in the rest of Andhra Pradesh, power supply is off for five hours and more, officially. In the rural areas, power supply has been promised between 6 pm and 6 am.
The government has however said it is committed to 7-hour power supply to the agriculture sector. Farmers however say, so many motors are drawing current from every transformer and the voltage fluctuations are such that motors are getting burnt out. This is a huge problem in the Telangana region especially where water supply is mainly from borewells that are dependent on power. "The drought is not as bad as the current situation. That hits us much worse, because the motor gets burnt and then we have to put up a lot of money to replace it,'' says Yadaiah, a farmer in Mahbubnagar. He says the paddy he planted has dried up because of no water and his only hope now is the cotton still on the field.
The government has tried to provide some respite to industry from the power crisis by announcing some measures to help absorb the shock. They will be no electricity duty on captive power generation units, VAT on diesel used for power generation will be reimbursed, wheeling charges on transmission cost for power generation by industries will be waived by procuring RLNG and naptha and also waiving charges on captive generation by non-conventional energy sources like solar and wind power plants.