Ludhiana, Jul 2 (KNN) The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has condemned two days industrial weekly off decision taken by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and termed it as signs of extreme mismanagement and systemic failure.

S Upkar Singh Ahuja, President & Pankaj Sharma, General Secretary, Chamber of Industrial & Commercial Undertakings (CICU) in a joint statement mentioned that the industry is suffering due to electricity cuts and PSPCL has started imposing industrial weekly off, due to shortage of power in the state.

While stating that the industry is already going through very crucial time and on the verge of closure, due to COVID-19, S B Singh, Joint Secretary, CICU said, ''Shortage of power will hit hard to the industry and industrial production will be hampered due to power cuts.''

Meanwhile, President of Federation of Punjab Small Industries Associations (FOPSIA) Badish Jindal, said that around 80 per cent of power supplied to the industrial sector is consumed by large scale industry with power connection of over 100 KW.

He further said that in all, 8,887 units in the state will be hit by the government’s decision.

“The government has allowed small and medium load industries to operate, but they will not be able to function as they do labour jobs or supply parts to large industries, which cannot work with these restrictions,” he added.

He further expected the department to inform industries before the start of weekly off.

''Instead of half days it could have been on Saturday and Sunday, it’s really shocking that on one hand the government is claiming the surplus power and on other hand the weekly off and unscheduled cuts are being imposed on industries,'' he added.

Both CICU and FOPSIA requested the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to review its decision and provide surplus power to the industry.

Punjab’s total generation capacity is around 13500 MW, but the demand rises more than 14000 MW.