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Ancillary units of BHEL fear stagnancy in production

TIRUCHI: Ancillary industries face the risk of stagnancy in production due to delay in settling of bills by the BHEL, Tiruchi.

Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries’ Association has appealed to the BHEL to expedite the clearance of bills and thereby enable ancillary industries to sustain the momentum of production.

In a statement, association president S. Sridharan said that ancillary industries, which had taken loans for expansion to augur with BHEL’s increasing manufacture capacity, would not be able to repay their dues, pay wages, or make payments for consumables if the payments were not made promptly.

Upon the advice of BHEL, almost all the ancillary industries had expanded their capacities,. The association was also poised to induct at least 150 more fabrication industries to raise the capacity further by 20,000 metric tonnes, he said expressing apprehensions over the diversion of loads by BHEL to ancillary units in the northern states during October, 2008, in spite of the expansion of local ancillary units.

Such diversions will render thousands of workers in the ancillary units in Tiruchi jobless, he pointed out adding that it would reflect poorly on the State.

Meanwhile, BHEL authorities refuted the charge of late payments. “Payments are being made twice a month to improve the cash flow of the ancillary units,” a senior official said. The official said that the practice of settling the bills thrice a month would be resumed soon.

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