Even closed MSME units in Amethi are slapped with power bills of more than Rs 50K

New Delhi, June 20 (KNN) Many industrial units in Amethi are facing the wrath of weaker domestic demand and rising costs of production. But more than that, the indifferent attitude of electricity board is what is making the small industrialists face losses and being forced to live on very meagre monthly incomes.

KNN reached out to one such small industrialist who is facing this hardship. Meraj Ahmed, owner, Noor Engineering Works, said, “I started this enterprise in 2005 and during those years I earned huge profits. But for the past 3-4 years there has been weaker domestic and global demand of my products, competition has increased and the iron rates in market have fell leading to losses. Till here it was still fine, but the huge electricity bills that I need to pay every month, are taking a toll on my meagre finances.”

He further continued, “60% of my machines are not working but still my factory is consuming 80 HP of power leading to exorbitant electricity bills of around Rs 55,000-60,000 per month. I wrote an application to power department 6-7 months back requesting them to reduce power supply to 30 HP.”

He added that not much has been done in this regard.

He accused there is excessive misuse of power and authority in electricity board leading to shut-down of almost all industrial units in Amethi.

They are not even complying with the Distribution Code that they are supposed to follow, the MSME entrepreneur said.

“Today, I am without any work as I was forced to shut down my factory. With almost no income, I have to pay loan instalments and other major expenses. The electricity board very well knows that my factory is locked but have still not removed meter from factory, are still charging exorbitant bills per month despite writing several applications to cut power supply in factory,” Ahmed said.

He revealed that sometimes due to lack of finances, if someone delays payment for 4-5 days, the electricity department slaps a fine of amount equal to the bill and not just for those 4-5 days.

“Today, I am in such a situation that I am not able to feed my family when at one time I employed more than 100 employees in my factory. These people have reduced me into a jobless worker,” he concluded.

The entrepreneur said that his is not the only unit in Amethi facing this issue but the situation is same with almost all the MSMEs in the region. (KNN/ TL)