The Hindu Business Line : Small units to stage dharna on power cut issue

Madurai, July 29 The Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (Maditssia), along with 14 other small industry associations, has announced a dharna on Thursday (July 31), demanding total exemption from power cut.

Small industries in the State consume less than 10 per cent of power, while providing employment to a vast majority. The present crisis in the power sector and subsequent daily cut in supply, together with a day of holiday, has severely dented the functioning of many units, driving them to closure.

Effectively, the units are experiencing a 40 per cent loss in productive capacity and find the running of the units difficult. They can not resort to operation of generators as big industries do. The associations feel that these units should be completely exempted from power cut.

“To reflect our feelings, we have decided to stage a dharna on Thursday in front of Maditssia buildings and march to the Collectorate and submit a memorandum,” said Mr N. Somasundaram, Vice-President, Maditssia, while addressing a press meet here on Tuesday.

The units that function during the night to make up for the loss of production have to engage additional labour. They need to be exempted from labour laws during the operation of power cuts. Readymade garment units are losing precious time in the production cycle with the festival seasons in the offing. Units in sectors such as plastics, rubber, agar and alginate need continuous supply of power. There are nearly 15,000 registered small units functioning and they are severely affected, he added.

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