Kanpur suffers Rs 450 cr lost due to power failure

Leather industry hub Kanpur suffered losses of about Rs 450 crore on account of the power crisis triggered by the collapse of grids in the past two days, industry body Indian Industries Association (IIA) said on Wednesday.

According to IIA, the massive power failure caused about 6,800 medium and small scale industries including tanneries in the city to shut the operations. These industries employ about two lakh workers.

"The two day power failure badly affected the industrial city of Kanpur," said Sunil Vaishya, cairman, IIA-Kanpur, adding that the losses so far has been estimated at a whopping Rs 450 crore. "The industries in the city are already getting lower-than-required power supply, but the grid failure forced the factory owners to shut operations and send workers on leave," he said.

The workers have been asked to return to work after 'Rakhsabandhan' on Thursday. "Besides the estimated loss of Rs 450 crore so far, the real losses are yet to be ascertained as the factory owners would not be able to execute the work orders on time," said Vaishya. "Though the normal supply to the city has been restored, industrial units in the city are yet to get power supply to the full capacity," he added.

The cottage industry in the city too suffered because of power failure. The country faced major power crisis for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as three grids serving Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern regions failed on Tuesday afternoon.

In the worst-ever power crisis, over half of the country's population in 21 states went without electricity for several hours throwing life out of gear and affecting about 600 million people.