Sukhbir Singh Badal demands financial package for losses suffered by industrial sector
Punjab Power Crisis: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday demanded the Punjab government offer a financial package to the State industry for the losses suffered by it due to the currently forced lockdown on account of power supply mismanagement.
Even as he called for supplying power to the industry at the promised landing cost of Rs five per unit. He said after suffering huge losses due to the coronavirus lockdown for the last one and a half years, the industrial sector in Punjab was presently in the grip of a power lockdown.
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The government has imposed a three-day compulsory off for the industrial sector besides closing down large-scale industries for five days and reducing the contracted power load of continuous supply to the industry by fifty percent.
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“This has broken the back of the State industry which is suffering losses of crores of rupees on a daily basis besides losing orders,” Shiromani Akali Dal President added.
He asserted that Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was directly responsible for this state of affairs as he held the Power portfolio. Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “required power purchases should be made immediately to ensure adequate power for the industrial sector.”
He said simultaneously the industry should be offered a financial package for the losses incurred by it besides deferring collection of bills for the current cycle by two months. “Power should also be provided at a landing cost of Rs five per unit as promised by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh”, he said while disclosing that the industry was currently paying nearly Rs ten per unit,” he added.
Badal also demanded holding a special session of the Vidhan Sabha to discuss the complete mismanagement of the State electricity utility.
He said PSPCL, which had been declared as the best electricity utility in 2015 during the SAD government-led tenure, was now finding it difficult to even supply adequate power to the consumers.
-PTC News
