Industrial units in the State will face a 24-hour load shedding every week from July 23. In the Pune urban circle, the shutdown will be effected from July 24 as Thursday is a staggering holiday for industrial units here, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) Chief Engineer (Pune Division) R B Gautam said today.

In Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, there are over 10,000 small, medium and large industrial units. “We have no option but to enhance the loadshedding in the industrial areas,” said Gautam. While elsewhere in the State, different days have been selected for implementing the 24-hour shut down, in Pune, industrial units will face a power shut down on Thursdays.

Gautam pointed out that the situation was still bleak due to the delayed monsoon and may continue for a week. With the Dabhol power plant pumping around 400 MW against the expected 1000 MW, there is a crisis in the State. “Already in rural areas, loadsheddings are to the tune of 13 hours while in several urban areas, loadsheddings have gone up to eight hours,” said Gautam who pointed out that there was no other option but to effect a 24-hour power shutdown at industrial units.

The decision to enhanced the hours of loadshedding from 16 to 24 in industrial areas was taken at a meeting convened by state Energy Minister Dilip Walse-Patil with industrial associations in Mumbai on Monday evening, informed Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) Additional Director General Anant Sardeshmukh. “In Pune, there are over 10,000 small and medium industrial units and the total annual turnover is around Rs 50,000 crore,” he added. Industries have been asked to cooperate as demand has gone up and there is a lack of supply of power.

MCCIA vice-president Naushad Forbes admitted that large industries that have their own back-up generators will not be greatly affected. “However, small industrial units will be totally shut down if the loadshedding hours are extended beyond 24 hours.”

Meanwhile, the shortfall for Pune is around 225 MW and on Monday the interim franchisee Tata Power Company could not generate enough power due to shortage of diesel. It could provide only 28 MW while the captive power plants generated around 22 MW. Hence, citizens had to suffer an extra half hour of power cuts today as areas that fell in Group A had load shedding for 3 hours, 15 minutes while areas in Group B had load shedding for 3 hours, 45 minutes.