SGCCI Urges Govt for New Substations, Faster Reforms to address power crisis

Surat: While a reliable and adequate power supply is essential to accelerate the industrial development in Surat and South Gujarat region, for the past few years, problems like frequent power outages, voltage fluctuations and overloaded substations in various industrial areas of Surat district have been posing a serious challenge to industrialists.

Taking this issue seriously, a delegation of the industry leaders and office-berarers of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) held a meeting with the Principal Secretary Ashwin Kumar, Managing Director of GETCO Upendra Pandey and high officials of GUVNL (Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited) and DGVCL (Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited) at Gandhinagar in the presence of the Minister of State for Energy and Petrochemicals, Government of Gujarat Kaushik Vekaria.

SGCCI delegation stated that the existing power infrastructure is proving to be inadequate to meet the increasing power demand in the industrial areas of South Gujarat, due to which the production capacity of MSMEs and textile industries is being negatively affected.

The 66 KV substations in areas like Keem, Pipodara, Mota Borsara, Molvan, Karanj, Tadkeshwar are heavily overloaded, due to which frequent power failures are being caused. The existing 220 KV Lindiyat substation is also bearing more load than its capacity, hence the Chamber of Commerce has urgently demanded the installation of new 66 KV substations in these areas and an additional 220 KV substation between Keem and Kosamba.

The growth of textile and processing industries in the industrial clusters of Sayan, Delad, Pariya, Gothan, Syadla has led to a significant increase in power demand. The 66 KV substations at Siven, Gothan and Delad are currently overloaded. The work of the 66 KV substation approved at Pariya has not yet started, which needs to be started immediately. In addition, the Chamber has demanded the expeditious completion of the work of the new 66 KV substation at Syadla and the 220 KV Velanja substation.

In addition, in areas like Umbhel, Parab and Jolwa, there is only 66 KV substation at Parab, which is also heavily overloaded. The Chamber of Commerce has demanded the establishment of a new 66 KV substation at Parab or Haldharu and in the long term a 220 KV substation at Vav.

SGCCI has demanded a separate Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) circle for Surat. At present, Surat district comes under Bharuch and Navsari GETCO circles, hence the Chamber has demanded the establishment of a separate GETCO circle for Surat, so that administrative efficiency increases, problems of industrialists are resolved quickly and ease of doing business is promoted.

In addition, the attention of the state government was also drawn to the issues related to DGVCL, in which apart from the transmission infrastructure, many challenges have arisen in the distribution system as well. Load management, feeder overload, voltage irregularities, delays in the process of new power connections and maintenance-related disruptions are affecting the industries. The Chamber has also demanded that the functioning of Gujarat Energy Transmission Corporation (GETCO) along with South Gujarat Electricity Company Limited (DGVCL) be considered to resolve these issues.

“South Gujarat contributes significantly to the industrial production, exports and employment of the state, therefore, if the power supply problems are not resolved immediately, it may have a negative impact on the growth rate of industries and investor confidence” said SGCCI president Nikhil Madrasi.

Following the representation, minister Kaushik Vekaria instructed the officials of GETCO to set up new sub-stations on an immediate basis.