Thousands get jobs back as factories get power again

Tuesday, 20 May 2008, 01:12 IST
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Raipur: Power supply to Chhattisgarh's O.P Jindal Industrial Park was restored Monday after a gap of 12 days, bringing relief to about 5,000 workers who had been thrown out of work all of a sudden. The workers - employed with 32 rolling mills and ferro alloy units at the industrial park in Punjipathra village in Raigarh district - lost their jobs overnight May 7 when the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity revoked the power distribution licence of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL). "The power supply has been resumed because the apex court last week stayed an order of the tribunal that revoked JSPL's power distribution licence," Rakesh Kumar, senior vice-president, JSPL, told IANS on telephone. He said electricity supply was partially resumed Saturday and fully Monday. The JSPL had set up the nearly 750-acre park in early 2005 with an investment of 2 billion following a pact with the Chhattisgarh government in October 2002. But later, the government-run Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB), had challenged the firm's distribution licence. Earlier, in November 2003, The CSEB had granted permission to JSPL to lay transmission and distribution lines from its power plant at Raigarh town to the industrial park at Punjipathra, located over 20 km away.
Source: IANS