30% powerloom production hit due to power cuts: Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council

ERODE: Powerloom industry in Tamil Nadu has suffered 30 per cent production loss due to power cuts in the past one month, a top official of the Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council ( PDEXCIL) said.

There were 4.5 lakh powerlooms functioning in the state and they usually produce 50 lakh metres of cloth daily. But in the past one month, the industry along with others had been badly hit by power shutdown, bringing down the production by 30 per cent, PDEXCIL Vice-Chairman (South) VT Karunanidhi said.

Due to the decrease in production, the powerloom owners were facing heavy financial loss as they were not able to complete the orders taken, he told reporters here.

All Traders Associations of Erode District Chairman N Sivanesan said because of the "undeclared" powercut industries, including small scale, were incurring huge loss.

The power situation in the state, which improved in the middle of the year, has again become bad forcing the government to re-introduce load-shedding in Chennai from this month in view of increased power cut in other parts of the state.

Complaining that central generating units alone accounted for 2500 MW shortfall in the past one month, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention to restore normalcy.