Industries bear the brunt of power crisis in Maharashtra

By Shilpa Dhamija and Nimisha Srivastava

It's a power crisis in Maharashtra and the industries will feel the pinch. They will have to do without any power for nearly two days, every week.

Sanjay Bansal was all set to run his manufacturing concern to full capacity throughout the week after he got an extra order from a big automobile company. But, he will have to put a break to his plans now because of a weekly 40 hour power cut imposed by the state's energy distribution company Mahavitaran has put a beak on his plans.

Sanjay Bansal, Automobile Component Manufacturer said, "We are not able to expand our business beacause of insufficient electricity supply. We are paying extra money for that and this is what we get in return."

40 hours of weekly loadshedding is going to affect over 6000 SMEs in Pune. The loss incurred will effect the entire chain connected with these industries from the big players to the workers who may face reduction in daily wage.

The situation is no better in the rest of the state. Maharashtra currently faces a power shortfall of 6000 megawatts. The 40 hour powercut means that industries will have to switch to a five day week for production. There will also be a 20% power cut for malls and streetlights. Power supply to hoardings and floodlights will be discontinued for 15 days. Big cities in the state can expect load shedding up to six hours everyday. According to the authorities, the situation might just get worse.

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, MD, Mahavitaran said, "If it rains, the situation improves and the agricultural demand falls, we will withdraw the load shedding."

It's a dark spell ahead for the state of Maharashtra.