PATNA: A large number of industrial units in the state downed their shutters on Wednesday to protest against the decision of Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) asking them to pay fuel surcharge of 69 paise per unit with retrospective effect from October 2008 to September 2009.
The industrial units, which remained closed, included the steel-based, PVC and plywood industries across the state. Bihar Steel Manufacturers Assocation, Bihar Steel Products Manufacturers Association, Fatuhad Industrial Area Udyami Sangh, PVC Pipe Manufacturers Association and Plywood Manufacturers Association supported by Bihar Industries Association (BIA) had appealed all the industrial units to keep their shutters down in protest against the BSEB decision.
Talking to the newsmen, leading steel industries entrepreneurs Subhash Kumar Patwari, who is BIA vice president, Sanjeev Chaudhary, chairman of Bihar Chamber of Commerce, P K Agrawal, former BIA president, K P Jhujhunwala, BIA vice president Sunil Kumar Singh and others said the industrial units remained shut as it was difficult to pay a huge fuel surcharge. After closing of accounts and audit reports of the industries in the last two years, a fresh demand for fuel surcharge has threatened virtual closer of many industries across the state, they said.
Chaudhary and other entrepreneurs claimed that around 10,000 industries out of the total 15,000 industrial power consumers in the state remained closed on Wednesday. Of these 1,000 units were big units. Agrawal said the industries across the state did not have the capacity to pay fuel surcharge.
Jhunjhunwala and other industrialists said that the shut down of the industries was their protest to highlight the agony and problem facing.
Chaudhary said while coal purchase cost had come down after 2008, the tariff rate in Bihar was raised higher than the power tariff in the neighburing Jharkhand and West Bengal. Due to this, it had become difficult for the industries of Bihar to compete with the cheaper products of the industries of the neighbouring states.