ASSOCHAM Urges Punjab CM to Tap all Avenues to Resolve Power Crisis

By 121 News

Chandigarh July 09, 2021:- Seeking urgent measures to ramp up power supply in Punjab reeling under severe electricity outages, ASSOCHAM today urged Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to tap all avenues to meet the crisis.

The government has all the data regarding how many new developments, connected load has been approved and transformers distributed, etc. Likewise, they should have had the ample capacity in the power generation and distribution. Kulwin Seehra, Chairman ASSOCHAM Punjab Development Council.

Punjab government should upgrade the capacity of lines coming from the central government. The government should give an prior notice before the power cut," he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Power supply to the industrial establishments has been restricted with long outages. The problem comes after a long lockdown of about two months and industry which started limping back suffers another jolt with power shortages.

Kulwin Seehra said that the industry should not become a soft target for meeting shortfalls. If at all there has to be an outage, it should be shared equally amongst all the sectors. We urge state government not to put any further burden on industry.

The ASSOCHAM believes that state DISCOM along with the power generating units in Punjab should ramp up the generation and distribution and immediately resolve all the technical glitches. If needed, help should be sought from the Centre to ensure that the situation returns to normalcy.  The state cannot afford long power cuts even as the competing demands would exert further pressure.

Deepak Sood, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM said that bsides the short-term resolution, power reforms should be implemented without any loss of time. DISCOMs should be modernised with private sector participation, while all commercial issues with the power generating companies can be resolved amicably.

Besides, the Central programme of reforms with over Rs 3 lakh crore outlay needs to be tapped by all the states, including Punjab. The country cannot afford to return to the days of long outages. Let the recent incidents be only exceptions.