Unannounced Power Cuts Killing Everbody
As the industries in Coimbatore continue to reel under unannounced power cuts, the new problem that the units seem to face is the shortage in availability of diesel in bulk from retail outlets to run the generator sets. K. Illango, president of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, said industries here were going without power for nearly four hours a day with two to three unannounced disruptions. The units were facing this problem for the last six months or more and the situation was expected to improve with wind energy generation going up since May.However, the units continued to be hit by power cuts. It was not feasible for all foundries to use generator sets. Several small-scale units switched over to generator sets when there was no power supply. However, problems in getting bulk diesel in retail outlets was also becoming an area of concern to several units now, he said. Jayakumar Ramdass, president of the Southern India Engineering Manufacturers’ Association, said disruption in power supply and the diesel shortage for generator sets was a problem for all the industries.
This affected the entire production process in the units. The textile units stopped production when there was no power supply and this affected the machinery and quality of products, said an official at the Southern India Mills’ Association. Oil corporation sources here said industrial units that needed diesel for captive power plants or machinery should approach the corporation directly rather than going in for bulk purchase from retail outlets. If the units met the safety standards for bulk storage, their request would not be turned down. However, bulk offtake from retail outlets was discouraged since market forces could resort to hoarding and black marketing, they said.
