Minister for Infrastructure and Investments Ganta Srinivasa Rao said here on Friday that he would impress upon the Chief Minister the need to take measures to overcome power crisis being faced by IT and small scale industries in and around the city.
The Minister held a review meeting with the district officials and representatives from the industry here on Friday.
He assured industry representatives that a solution would be found for the problem after discussions with officials at the State level.
Chairman and Managing Director of AP Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) Ahmad Nadeem said the present shortfall of about 20 per cent would go up by an additional 30 per cent during summer in view of increased loads.
He assured the Minister that the same shortfall would be maintained and there would be no additional power cuts during the coming summer.
This would be achieved by generating additional power or buying the additional power required.
Hotels Association representatives V. Prabhu Kishore and M. Raghavendra Rao said all the hotels were losing heavily due to restrictions on power usage during the peak hours.
Each cinema hall was losing around Rs.4 lakh a month and many small scale industries were shut down.
The industry representatives sought lifting of peak hour restrictions as all of them were small units.
IT Park Association representatives P. Vishnu Kumar Raju and O. Naresh Kumar said no new IT company was ready to start in ITSEZ due to severe power restrictions. Small IT companies were losing Rs.3 lakh to Rs.5 lakh every month due to penalties and diesel purchases.
The merchants association sought reduction of power restrictions and imposition of power cuts for a few hours and full supply during other times.
Collector V. Seshadri, Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority Vice Chairman Kona Sashidhar, Municipal Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana and Director of the Software Technology Parks of India M. Dubey were among those who participated.
Cinema Halls Association leader Vamsi Kishore and Visakha Autonagar Small Scale Industrialists Welfare Association (VASSI) president Ramakrishna Narappareddy attended.
