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Small industries really suffer due to this as they don’t have generators to help them continue with production when power breaks down
- Sohan Kelekar, president, Madkaim Industrial Estate
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When I approached the electricity department to get power connection, they told me that if I want more than 50 HP of load then either I will have to put in my own transformer
- SSI entrepreneur from Verna
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THE GOAN SPECIAL
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GROWTH RATE LOOKS DEEP SOUTH
* Manufacturing sector registered a negative growth rate of -1.22 % in 2011-12 which dipped further to -4.01 the following year
* In 2013-14, the growth rate remained in the negative bandwidth with -4.66 and fell to -6.04 in 2014-15, says Economic survey report
* Despite the sorry scenario the IPB has been clearing projects which will draw an additional 70 MW from the grid, at breakneck speed
* Apart from power outages, poor infrastructure is also proving to be a stumbling block for industrial output
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The manufacturing sector has been registering a negative growth since 2011-12 and Power Minister Milind Naik will have to shoulder a major portion of the blame for this poor performance.
The industrial estates in the State, which were created to give manufacturing units a boost are facing grave power crisis thereby severely denting Naik’s claim that there is adequate power in the state.
Commenting on the quality of power made available to manufacturing units, Sohan Kelekar, president, Madkaim Industrial Estate, said, “We are having regular power cuts. On the night of July 7th at 11 pm, we had a power cut which went on for 13 hours straight. Small industries really suffer due to this as they don’t have generators to help them continue with production when power breaks down”
When asked how many industrial units in Madkaim Industrial Estate are small scale, Kelekar replied, “Around 70% are small-scale units here, where labour remains idle and production comes to a halt whenever there is a power cut”
Recently, the government started distributing LED lights with the hope of diverting the power saved (21 MW) to industry, but this is yet to be realised.
Anil Gadvi, president, Margao Industrial Estate said, “All the industries here are having a very tough time due to voltage fluctuations. Such fluctuations happen more in monsoon. Our equipments like motors get damaged due to voltage fluctuations and production suffers”
Gadvi echoed Kelekar’s views that small scale industries are suffering the most as medium-scale and large-scale industries can afford generators. He also highlighted that voltage fluctuations, even for a second, are detrimental for certain manufacturing operations.
A number of industrial estates in Goa don’t have underground cabling, which they have been demanding for years. Unfortunately, those estates, which do have underground cabling, are also facing power cuts due to poor maintenance.
Kelekar said, “Due to power issues, we got an underground parallel power line two years ago but even that has failed due to poor quality of cable joints”
An industrialist from Verna Industrial Estate, on the condition of anonymity, said, “We are a small-scale unit. When I approached the electricity department to get power connection, they told me that if I want more than 50 HP of load then either I will have to put in my own transformer or pay for the upgradation of electricity department’s transformer”
A transformer with 100-200 KVA capacity costs Rs 9-10 lakhs, which a small scale unit can’t afford. Besides, it is state government’s responsibility to provide basic minimum infrastructure to industries including uninterrupted power supply.
Another source, who did not wish to be named, said, “When the current state government took over, there was some improvement in power availability initially, but thereafter there was no major improvement.”
This paints a sorry picture for a government, which came out with an investment policy two years ago to attract more industries.
