Tripura: 50 industries shut down due to power and gas shortage

Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha on Saturday, August 20, made his maiden visit to the industrial growth center at Bodhjungnagar for ground inspection.

As there has been a recent report of several industries stopping their operations while many others which are ready to operate are unable to start due to the inability to get an uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity, 

The CM along with Chief Secretary JK Sinha, DGP Amitabh Ranjan, chairman of the Tripura Industrial Development Corporation Tinku Roy, secretary of the Industries department Abhishek Chandra, and other senior officials interacted with the employees, entrepreneurs, and industrialists at the industrial growth center.

The interaction was in line to understand issues dictating the industrial growth and accordingly work out policies and take the necessary step to further improve the available facilities to attract more investments in Tripura for economic growth and employment creation.

According to the CM, out of a total of 120 industries in Bodhjungnagar which were set up in that area, only 69 are operational while 50 have been shut down. 

Another 41 units are under construction while many others which are ready since last more than a year but unable to operate as they do not have an uninterrupted supply of power and gas.

The biggest problem according to the TIDC chairman Roy in the area is security. He alleged that despite repeatedly writing to the authority demanding for setting up of a TSR barrack in that area where the incident of theft is a regular occurrence, it was never set up. 

Roy said that video footage was submitted to the police as evidence that revealed that burglars even loaded stolen goods in trucks for transportation of stolen goods out of the industry area. 

Unfortunately, those vehicles could not be stopped at the gates of the industrial area as they are manned by unarmed security personnel from private agencies and who are ineffective.
Hence, there has been a demand for giving responsibility to the troopers of Tripura State Rifles.

He added that to stop burglary, automatic gates have been installed at all gates of the center but unfortunately, that too failed to yield any result in absence of police personnel at the gates and so requested the CM to look into the matter.

Roy accepted that despite huge demand Tripura Natural Gas Corporation (TNGC) failed to fulfill it and due to this the production of several rubber-based industries is suffering.

He demanded on the date the demand for gas is around 30000 units of gas but GAIL had allocated only some 18000 units of gas for the industrial area and which before 2018 was just 7000 units.

He also informed that for the extra use of gas the industries also have to pay penalties. Also, due to gas shortage several industries are ready but unable to start operations and facing huge losses as have to pay back bank loans and interest without any income.

Meantime, the CM said that after interacting with the industrialists he could realize that they have four prime concerns and the most important is the security concern. He on the spot asked the DGP why even after repeated FIR and video evidence the police failed to take any action.

CM Saha said, “If they (burglars) terrorize the industrialists then you (DHP) should terrorize them so that they do not dare to come here again. Otherwise, why will people invest in industries here if they are not secure.”

The second issue the CM raised is in connection to the construction of boundaries as often the boundaries are broken by the culprits with ill intentions.

He ordered the DGP to identify and book them immediately.

Dr. Saha said Tripura has been advertising and claiming of having a huge stock of gas and power surplus state but on the contrary unable to supply when industries are being set up here and it does not speak well regarding the state.

He said when there is the same BJP in the government at the center and in the state, all these should not be any issues and all problems should be sorted out by dialogue.

The CM assured that all these issues shall be sorted at the earliest besides improving the roads infrastructure in that area and also see that the state government procure a certain percentage of the products manufactured in the state industries which till now was not procured by the state government.

Dr. Saha said that he will discuss with the TIDC to examine and find the cause behind why a large number of factories have shut down recently and make sure that they resume their operations.

The CM also asked the industrialist and entrepreneurs to direct contact him if necessary to resolve issues and also assured that he will be regularly visiting the area also with officials because PM Modi during the recent meeting of NITI Ayog has instructed every government to be self-reliant and for which have to increase export capacity.

He viewed that with the operation of the Maitre Setu connecting Tripura with Chittagong sea port there will be massive economic growth of the state as a larger investment in the industries sector shall come to Tripura.