Power outage, uneasy movt of goods hampering MSMEs in Uttarakhand: IAU

New Delhi, July 20 (KNN) The industry in Uttarakhand comprising of over 70 per cent Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is getting severely affected as the power outage continue to hamper the operations.

Talking to KNN, Pankaj Gupta of Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU) explained the situation.

He informed that the industry needs electricity as a basic and continued input for its operations. Though there is no shortage of electricity, yet there are frequent power breakdowns.

“Shortage and outage are two different things, shortage would have meant that there is no supply, but outage shows that despite availability, the electricity tripping happens, halting the manufacturing line” he added.

Listing the problems being faced by the sector he said that the movement of goods along road isn’t smooth, corrupt practices such as inspector raj is still in place.

Gupta further informed that the GST though being a good step on a larger perspective, the already slowed industry in the region further slowed down because of the new taxation.

“There is a sharp decline in the demand of products, the market is still apprehensive about the GST as the pricing and billing procedures are still not very clear”.

With the GST in its third week since implementation, its only now that things are starting to fall in line, Gupta expects the demands to restore soon.

Talking of ways to tackle the problem that the industry of the region faces, he said that the electricity board needs to deploy proper mechanism for maintenance to avoid the outages.  Also the Industry Body Chief wants the government to ensure proper monitoring to eliminate the inspector raj and enable smooth transportation of goods along the route.

The GST is a good decision, but it needs appropriate monitoring to eliminate the possibilities of alternate economy coming up, he added. (KNN/ DA)