Chennai, April 25 (BPNS)
With Tamil Nadu facing unprecedented power disruptions, primarily due to the shortage of Coal and other distribution issues, the functioning of small and medium companies in the state is affected.
The unit owners said that the regular disruptions in the past few days are a cause of worry as the use of generators to substitute the power disruption has turned into a costly affair, thanks to the high cost of diesel.
Industrial units in Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, and Tiruchi are facing issues due to the frequent power failures that take place four to five times a day with 20 to 30 minutes duration.
A small industrial unit manufacturing company that is specializing in the production of brake liners while speaking to BPNS said, “ The industrial climate is going for a toss if the power disruptions continue. The Chief Minister has already communicated to the Prime Minister regarding the Coal shortage in Tamil Nadu and hopes the issue is resolved. We are facing a 10 percent shortage in our production per day and this will lead to losses for industry that is slowly coming up after two years of pandemic followed by economic woes.”
Many of the small industrial units have said that they are not able to use generators as the cost of diesel has gone up and the costing has become more than 30 percent than that was earlier.
An industrial unit at Coimbatore industrial park which specializes in tool making is also facing the same issue. M. Karupuvelan, a trained machinist who has put a unit with support from the Small Industrial Development Bank of India (SIDBI) while speaking to BPNS said, “ Things were doing good until pandemic struck. After two years of closure and default on loans, we were slowly coming back on track and the continuous power disruptions are now taking their toll on our production. We are into precision engineering and once the power is gone, the flow is lost hence we have to start afresh creating major worries. I am not able to afford using a generator to substitute the power shortage as prices of diesel have skyrocketed.”
Power disruptions are becoming a regular story in Tamil Nadu and unless the government takes measures to rectify this either by bringing in more coal or some other measures, small and medium industries that employ a huge workforce will be suffering.
