Live
- National Panchayati Raj Day: Four Women Leaders Who are Igniting Rural Transformation
- Embrace the Vedic Wisdom of Acharya Indravarman, The Best astrologer in USA – United States
- Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational: Gaurav Pratap take first-round lead with course record 63
- How AI-Driven Workforce Automation by TrackOlap is Reshaping MSMEs in India
- Special discussion on eminent philosopher Acharya Prashant, Vedanta and Gita in Raj Bhavan met Governor Mangubhai Patel
- Pakistan Asserts Right to Suspend All Bilateral Agreements, Including Simla Agreement
- Reviving indigenous sports: India’s hidden strength in the global arena
- TBZ-The Original strengthens presence in Hyderabad. Launched its 3rd store in the Kondapur area
- Syngenta India unveils roadmap at BioAg congress to boost sustainable farming through innovative biologicals
- ‘Gangers’ Movie Review: Vadivelu Almost Saves Sundar C’s Low-Stakes Heist Comedy

x
Highlights
Unprecedented power crisis in the state has thrown the lives of workers and employees engaged in small and medium industries into turmoil. The...


"For the past two months, after I lost my job, we are living only on my husband's salary. A We have two children. After paying rent now we are left with Rs 3,500"
Aditya Parankusam Hyderabad: Power cuts are wrecking the lives of tens of thousands of workers engaged in small and medium scale industries in and around Hyderabad. According to Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI), crippling daily power cuts and three power holidays a week are drastically affecting production in many industries and ultimately resulting in major reductions in monthly incomes of already hard pressed workers, causing serious difficulties in their lives. "Power to industries is being supplied for 10-12 hours on non -power holiday days. Early estimates show that around 50,000 workers (contract, casual and out sourced) are affected by this. Not many companies use generators as that would increase their cost of production ", says Yousuf, city secretary of AITUC. "Rajeshwar Forging company has given 15 days leave to its workers without pay recently. Otherwise all industries in Nacharam IDA area are on 5 -day week. Workers have no job for two days every week", Ganesh of CITU told The Hans India. What could be the plight of workers in these conditions? He leaves that to one's imagination. Santosh, Lilitha, Vinoda, Veeramma, Lakshminarayana, Pasha, Dattatreya, Narasimha, Rajitha, Jamuna and Manjula are some of the male and women workers who hail from Chilkanagar, Hemanagar, Ambedkar Nagar and Mallapur in this belt of industries. They were once employed but January 31, 2013 was the dreaded day in their lives. The companies in which they were working were shut down on that fateful day. With that the lives of these people were thrown into sudden uncertainties. This is what Lalitha, a resident of Chilkanagar, who was working in Sravani Labs, has to say on this situation: "I have worked for 11 years with the company and my salary was only Rs 3,200 per month. We had no PF, no ESI, no bonus whatsoever. On 31 January some people came and sealed the office. We all were ousted. It did come as huge shock. I used to earn Rs 3,000 per month. My husband works as security guard and earns Rs 5,000. We have to pay a house rent of Rs 1,500 per month. Our total income was Rs 8,000 out of which the deduction for rent left us with Rs 6,500. Our family of four (with two children) was eking out a living on that amount. "Since past two months, after I lost my job, we are living only on my husband's salary. We have two children. After paying rent now we are left with Rs 3,500. Tell me how a family in city can live on 3,500 rupees? Prices are sky- rocketing and we can't even afford to have a proper meal. I have taken provisions from stores on loan, yet to pay for that. We are passing off days by mortgaging valuables, taking loans from loan sharks. I can't even feed our family now as before. Some days we go to our relatives to at least feed our children. Loans are accumulated up to Rs 30,000 at an interest of 2-3 % and in some cases 5%. I am really unsure for how many days I can survive", she said. The travails of Narasimha, Pasha, Santosh, Veeramma, Rajitha and Vinoda who all have lost their jobs are no different either. Owner of a small unit killed self; news never came outAKatragadda Prasad, founder of Sai Prasanna Packaging Industries: "I have never faced t his kind of situation in the last 10 years,"
Santosh Padala Hyderabad: Small and medium scale (SME) enterprises of the state have been experiencing untold hardships due to frequent power cuts and hiked tariff in the recent past. Owners of most of these units are on the verge of closing them as they are unable to make profits due to power crisis. "One owner of a unit in Jeedimetla IDA committed suicide 15 days back after incurring heavy losses. As he was from a privileged community of the society, his family members shied away from making it an issue ," said Sekhar Yadav, owner of Sumanth Industries. "There are hundreds of owners who cannot run their units any more. They fear that the bankers might close their units once they learn about low performance. Hence, most of the owners are pretending to be doing well", he added ruefully. Jeedimetla, one of largest industrial parks in the country, has been losing its shine after units incurring huge losses due to unavailability of basic sources and disrupted power." What was once flourishing with thousands of industries has now become a classic example of pathetic plights" , he explained. Rajeev R Kunati, after working for 20 years in the USA, shifted to India. He took over Salzgitter Hydraulics Private Limited (SHPL) located in Gandhinagar IDA by investing a whooping amount of 1.5 million dollars in 2005. Initially, he planned to make his company as one of the public listed firms. But, his company has been experiencing negative growth rate for the last 7 years owing to many problems. One of the major challenges is to get adequate and uninterrupted power supply. "I need to pay monthly Rs 6 lakhs of interest on working capital investment borrowed from a local bank. I reduced the workforce. Earlier, there were 150 workers. Now there are only 100 workers. Indirectly, around 400-500 employees have been affected with low productivity," said Rajiv. Srinivas Rao is a B Tech degree holder established Hindustan Springs in Jeedimetla IDA. He told The Hans India: "The raw material is being wasted half- processed when power is disrupted every two hours. Generally, machines take 2 hours to heat up to melt the raw metals. The electricity is cut often during the processing. As a result, I am forced to sell the half-processed raw metal as scrap." The owner of Guardian Coatings Private Limited of the IDA K Subbaiah said he had been missing both family and social life as he often had to stay in his unit. "As I have to run my unit in the odd conditions, I am unable to spend time with my children. I am not visiting my relatives' places and frequently absent myself for social functions ",he averred. Katragadda Prasad, founder of Sai Prasanna Packaging Industries located in Gandhinagar IDA, has slashed the workforce by more than 50%. Instead of 35 workers, he has been running the unit with just 15 of them. "I have never faced t his kind of situation in the last 10 years," said Prasad. M Janardhan Rao, Zonal Manager of Qutbullapur Area of Industrial Local Authorities (AILA), where over 1,200 units can be found, said the situation is horrible. "AP is one of the largest states. Availability of resources is lower than demand. Additionally, natural resources have been depleted. We cannot compare our state to Gujarat or some other state. There is no sufficient power. Hence, we cannot supply materials to meet the requirements of the units," he explained. He, however, urged the units to find alternative solutions and to adopt power management practices. A never before situationSince majority of those working in the MSME sector are from outside the State, most of the workers who lost their jobs have left for their home states
P Madhusudhan Reddy

P Narasinga Rao: "Most of the units are not closing only because there is no proper exit policy for MSME sector. Most of the units are linked to banks and creditors and they have to complete the orders."
T P Venu
All these conditions have badly impacted the earnings and lives of employees. An unskilled employee is losing, on an average, Rs 2,000-3000 per month
Santosh Padala

Next Story
More Stories
© 2025 Hyderabad Media House Limited/The Hans India. All rights reserved. Powered by hocalwire.com