SMEs urge Deora to ensure enough gas

Faced with acute gas shortage, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of south Gujarat have urged Murli Deora, union minister for petroleum and natural gas to ensure sufficient availability of natural gas to SMEs in the region.

Representatives of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) today met Deora, who was in Surat to grace the inauguration of Torrent Power's Sugen power plant and apprised him about the shortage of gas faced by these small units.

Surat is a hub of diamond and textile industry. More than 450 processing houses in and around the city use natural gas."These SME units get natural gas from 3 mmscmd allocated from PMT gas fields. However, this supply has been cut to 2.13 mmscmd, resulting into reduction in gas supply to SMEs in south Gujarat. We have requested the union minister to take step to ensure availability of 2 mmscmd gas," said Nilesh Mandlewala, president, Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In the wake insufficient gas supply, the SMEs have to procure imported gas, which leads to production cost escalation. "The SME industry, which is a backbone of the economy, should be allocated from KGD-6 basin," he added.

Higher cost of gas has forced many units to use alternative fuel. "Some of them also use inferior quality coal," said an industry player.