Uninterrupted power supply: stop procrastination, textile industry tells ministry

Ministry of Water and Power delaying a decision of uninterrupted power supply to the textile industry during Eid holidays, keeping the industry undecided whether to continuity mills' operations or not. Sources said the Central Power Purchasing Agency has informed the ministry that demand for power supply would be reduced by some 30 percent during the Eid holidays therefore uninterrupted power supply can be resumed to the textile industry in Punjab. But the ministry is delaying the decision without a cogent reason, adding to the confusion of the industry by and large on continuity of mills' operations during Eid holidays.
It may be noted that the ministry had withdrawn exemption from load shedding to the Punjab-based textile industry with the start of the holy month of Ramazan. A supply of cut of about 10 hours had left the industry with no option but to close down one shift operations throughout the holy month.
Meanwhile, the ministry had been convincing the industry to resume supply with the start of pre-monsoon season. The power sector sources said the ministry was showing no concern over the dwindling exports of the country and pending the decision unduly. They said most of the plants would be operational under capacity while a few would be closed down altogether due to a reduction in demand for power. "The government would be paying capacity charges without utilizing the power during Eid holidays," they said.
It is worth noting that the cottage industry prefers to close down its operations during the Eid holidays due to a limited economy of scale. The commercial activities also come to a halt during the Eid holidays and the domestic load also registers a reduction due to the gathering of families at a single point. It is only the large scale industry which keeps operations intact round the clock. Therefore, the textile industry circles have demanded that the government should resume supply to it on Eid to strengthen exports of the country.