JOIN USThe irony is too stark to ignore. The state which ranks third in the country in terms of attracting investment, stares at the prospect of several industries shutting down due to the worsening power crisis.
Small and medium industries are facing huge losses as the 12-day monthly power holiday is taking its toll on production.
In a major embarrassment to the Congress government, the representatives of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Associations (FAPSIA) on Thursday launched a relay hunger strike here, demanding adequate power supply to run the units.
“If the present situation continues, we will be forced to close down our units. The losses could be unimaginable,” FAPSIA president A P K Reddy said. After talks with Labour Department officials failed, some of the federation members had served lock-out notices.
Reeling under power shortage, the state-run power utilities had issued notices to about 1.61 lakh small and micro industrial units to observe 2-day power holiday in a week along with the regular weekly off, with effect from February 29.
The situation has been further aggravated by a four hour daily load shedding from 6pm.
The combined effect will be a halt in production for 120 hours. The authorities said this was inevitable due to the increasing demand from domestic sector with the onset of summer and compulsory seven-hour supply to the agriculture sector daily.
As a result, some companies have already hinted at a 50 per cent pay cut for the employees.
“The industries have to cut down 30 per cent of the staff and eventually shutdown, if the government continues with 12 power holidays a month,” warned J Nageswara Rao, Secretary of FAPSIA.