Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu has demanded that the Centre, in association with the RBI, announce a special package for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the State that are on the verge of closure due to erratic power supply.
The package should earmark 12 per cent of total power generation to the MSME sector, restructuring of term loan schedules and strict adherence to the Industrial Investment Promotion policy. Mr. Naidu on Saturday addressed the participants of the relay hunger strike by the Federation of AP Small Industries Association (FAPSIA) demanding steps to provide power to industry.
The FAPSIA launched the protest as the units were in total doldrums due to erratic power supply. The present power cut to the general industry was about 52 per cent, while for continuous processing industries, the production loss was pegged at 67 per cent. So far, 15 per cent of the SSI units had been declared sick while the fate of another 50 per cent hangs in balance.
Mr. Naidu launched trenchant attack on N. Kiran Kumar Reddy government for its inept handling of the crisis and its lack of foresight in anticipating the trouble.
Meanwhile a delegation of the Federation of A.P. Industries (FAPI) called on Chairman of the A.P. Electricity Regulatory Commission A. Raghotham Rao seeking orders to distribution companies to lift the restrictions on maximum demand utilisation of only 60 per cent of the maximum contracted demand. FAPI president B.V. Rama Rao said that the restrictions effectively meant that industries could manage only 60 per cent of production capacities. If the power supply position did not improve, the industries in the State would simply collapse.
