Team News Riveting
Raipur, September 3
The scanty rainfall has surged the demand of power in Chhattisgarh and the industrial facilities in the state have to bear the brunt with the untimely electricity supply cut.
According to industrialists, the Chhattisgarh state power distribution company limited (CSPDCL) had cut power supply for 75 hours in the month of August, which is close to 10 per cent of the total supply. So, on the first day of September, electricity was supplied only for 8 hours of the 24 hours.
The Chhattisgarh steel makers said despite being the power surplus state as claimed, supply to the biggest industrial areas of Siltara and Urla had been severely disrupted. Besides financial problems, they have to address the technical issues also as once power goes off for long, the molten iron starts solidifying again.
The two industrial areas have a lion’s share in the state’s steel output. Most of the steel industries are located in Raipur and Raigarh districts. However, industrial areas like Urla and Siltara in Raipur produce 7 lakh metric tonnes of steel every month, which is about 60 to 70 per cent of the total production of the state.
A high-level delegation of the industrialists that included Urla Industries Association President and Industry Chamber members Ashwin Garg and Neeraj Agarwal, Anil Nacharani from Sponge Iron Association, Vikas Agarwal from Mini Steel Plant Association, Vishnu Jindal, Sanjay Tripathi, and Banke Bihari Agarwal from Rolling Mill Association met the CSPDCL Chairman Ankit Anand and discussed about the issue.
Senior officials of the company including Managing Director Manoj Khare, Director Mrs. Ujjwala Baghel and others were also present. Garg, in a statement said, they told the officials that the Industrialists have always supported the department whenever there has been a power crisis. “We urge you that an emergency plan should be made to face the situation of power crisis and power cuts should be executed uniformly in the state,” he said, adding that the deficit burden of the entire state should be put on their industrial areas.
During discussion, CSPDCL Chairman Ankit Anand said that due to less rains, compared to previous years, the consumption of electricity had increased by about 1000 MW in August-September this year while production increased by about 350 MW. The authorities are compelled to cut the supply to meet the demand. The Chairman informed that efforts are being made by the department to minimize the power cuts and ensure supply is disrupted in the industrial areas only from 5 pm to 11 pm only if needed.
