Unscheduled power outages hit industrial areas in Telangana

The industrial clusters in and around Greater Hyderabad areas in particular, are experiencing power cuts on a daily basis for the last few days

Hyderabad: Industries in the State have been facing long power cuts for over two weeks now, resulting in a decline in productivity and increase in production costs. The industrial clusters in and around Greater Hyderabad areas in particular, are experiencing power cuts on a daily basis for the last few days.

According to industry sources, the power supply was stopped from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning in Jeedimetla Industrial Estate. Similarly, there was no electricity in Cherlapally industrial cluster for more than two hours on Sunday night.

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Last week there was a power outage for three to four hours in the afternoon for three consecutive days in Balanagar Industrial Development Area(IDA), the sources added.

Sources say Dandumalkapur Industrial Park, located in Nalgonda district has been experiencing frequent power outages for one to two hours for the last three months. The situation is similar in Nacharam, Mallapur and Uppal industrial areas.

It is learnt that due to unscheduled power cuts, plastic industries were suffering heavy losses and that plastic was being wasted a lot due to frequent power outages. The power outages were affecting all industries that operate with boilers, including pharma and food processing units.

Frequent power outages lead to burning of electrical equipment and high electricity bills, the industry representatives said.

It is a practice by power utilities to stop power supply during heavy rains and storms or during maintenance work and restore it afterwards. However, industry sources say that even on days when the weather was dry, power outages were taking place.

The owners of the companies complain that the unannounced power cuts were having a severe negative impact on the production.

The industrialists claim that the outages are not only hampering productivity of the day, but also increasing the cost of production.

The micro industries are the one which are suffering the most due to power outages. Micro enterprises generally do not have power backups in the form of diesel-powered generators, given their high operating costs, which forces them to shut operations during power cuts.

Perhaps for the first time in ten years, industries are witnessing power cuts during October. With four months left for summer, the industrial circles have started to worry as power cuts have started.