Industrialists poured out their woes at an interactive session on power problem convened by Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purundeswari on Sunday.
Hitting out at the powers-that-be for lack of foresight, the industrialists alleged that people getting power through Eastern Power Distribution Company of AP Ltd (APEPDCL) were getting more power cuts than their counterparts in other parts of the State.
Tempers ran high when Symbiosys Technologies CEO O. Naresh Kumar said due to lack of enough pressure from the political leaders from the region, industries in Hyderabad region were getting two days power holiday per week compared to three days for the units located in North Andhra.
“Why such a discriminatory treatment,” he thundered. APEPDCL had lowest loss compared to other Discoms and highest revenue but still the duration of power cut was more here than Hyderabad, he lamented.
Intervening, Ms. Purandeswari said as soon as they approached her, she had taken up the issue to make efforts to end their woes to a large extent. Minister for Investment and Infrastructure Ganta Srinivasa Rao said there was no need to be emotional and he would take up the issue at Hyderabad level. Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju said it was not appropriate to say that there was no political pressure. When fellow-industrialists supported the contention of Mr. Naresh Kumar, Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas said instead of criticising, the speakers should list out their suggestions to tide over the present crisis. Earlier, Ramakrishna Narappareddy, president, Visakha Autonagar Small Scale Industrialists Welfare Association, said due to political pressure, the power holiday had been slashed to two days from three days a week for small industries in Hyderabad region where as consumers under APEPDCL, despite minimal losses and 100 per collection of billed amount, were facing three days power holiday. He said they were disappointed at lack of concern for their predicament.
Former CII zonal chairman R.V.S. Raju said there was no long-term policy to overcome the problem. The projected power addition by 2016-17 was not enough to meet the demand as several industries would go up by that time. He said the government should plan power parks to generate 5,000 to 6,000 MW at various places to seek investments without any hassles. He wanted consideration of solar based generators with some incentives and wondered why the Defence sector should not be asked to consider captive power generation like Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Managing Director of Coromandel Paints K. Satyanarayana said the government need to prioritise and there was no justification to deny the industries power for half of the six working days.
