PUDUCHERRY: Industries in Puducherry are facing a tough time with production losses mounting as power supply is yet to be restored in many areas, after damage caused by cyclone Thane. Even after a fortnight, nearly 40 per cent of the industries still remain without power. “The Electricity Department has restored power to 60 per cent of industries. To the remaining industries, power will be restored within a week,” said K Madhivanan, superintendent engineer heading the Electricity Department.However, it will require immediate sanction of funds as transformers and other equipment are in short supply. A total of 124 transformers have been damaged, of which, 35 have been replaced. The department has a stock of 32 transformers. New transformers and other equipment have to be purchased. A fund of `49.25 crore is required, of which `23.2 crore is required immediately, official sources said. A fortnight after cyclone Thane struck, nearly 40 per cent of Puducherry’s industries still remain without power. As the Union Territory faces the uphill task of restoring power, industries have already suffered a loss to the tune of around `500 crore, according to rough estimates by CII. These are only a conservative figure as the damages are not only to infrastructure, sheds and machinery but also to production and livelihood, says Meenakshi Kumar, President, CII-Puducherry. There has been no industrial activity at all anywhere for a week. Infrastructual loss alone will be around `350 crore and production loss around `150 crore so far. Above that is livelihood loss. The recovery of loss through insurance is around 30 to 35 per cent only, he says. The worst hit are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), as a good number of the units do not have insurance cover. The government needs to do something for them, said Meenakshi Kumar.The actual loss could be more as several units will know the full extent of damage after power is restored. “Only when there is power supply, the damage to electrical panels, circuit boards, motors and machinery would be known,” said M S Vijayraghavan, past president of CII, Puducherry.Many units in Sederapet Industrial Estate are waiting for power to resume production, while some units have got partial supply. Large-scale industries, especially power-intensive industries like glass and steel units, face a big crisis, unable to function to full capacity as power supply is intermittent. “We have reduced the production capacity to 40 or 50 per cent,” says K S Shetty of Hindustan National Glass Industries and vice-president of CII-Puducherry. Even in areas where power supply has been restored, woes continue as roads have become unusable after being battered by the cyclone. In Mettupalayam Industrial Estate, the roads which were in bad condition have now become worse, says V Thirumal, secretary of Pondicherry Chamber of Industries. “We urge the government to relay the five kilometre road at the earliest, as well as the drainage so that industries can start work again,” he said. Many of the industries had to reconstruct asbestos roofs of sheds that were blown away or damaged by the cyclone. The packaging industry has suffered the worst as most of the raw material and finished products were damaged after the roofs of sheds were damaged. The same has been case with plastic industries where rain water damaged finished products.
Comments
0 comment