KSSIA dismayed over frequent power shutdowns witnessed at IE Baghi Ali Mardan

SRINAGAR: Kashmir Small Scale Industries Association (KSSIA) Industrial estate Baghi Ali Mardan Khan has expressed its dismay over frequent power shutdowns and cuts enforced by the Power Development Department in the estate resulting in huge financial losses to the entrepreneurs.
In a meeting of the association chaired by President Syed Fazal Illahi, the members said that these power outages have further crippled the economy of about 100 industrial units which are already in great distress for a number of reasons. They said that in the current month alone 3 full day shutdowns besides frequent daily cuts have been carried out in the industrial estate resulting in huge financial losses to the entrepreneurs.
The members alleged that under the current bureaucratic rule nobody seems to be bothered about the adverse impact of recurrent power outages in industrial estates that employ thousands of permanent and casual employees. They said that with each shutdown, the unit holders are burdened with huge expenditure on idle wages, bank interests and other establishment costs.
The members said that the losses incurred by unit holders on account of curfews and lockdowns had already brought them to the brink of extinction and the new scenario of erratic power supply may act as the last nail in their coffin.
Speaking on the occasion, the President KSSIA endorsed the views of the members and assured them to file a case with the Electricity Regulatory Commission for compensation of losses incurred by the unit holders of the estate as a consequence of unscheduled cuts and shutdowns. He regretted that the department of industries had since forgotten to undertake their role and responsibility towards the welfare and promotion of existing units. The industries department has also failed to seek any accountability from concerned agencies for enhancing power infrastructure in the estate for which a scheme had already been approved for their estate under the Tameir programme in 2017.

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