Biratnagar, January 10:

Industrialists in Morang and Sunsari districts have warned of launching an agitation if electricity supply is not made regular and load shedding hours not reduced.

They issued this warning while submitting a memorandum to the Morang DAO seeking proper regulation of power supply.

Load shedding of 40 hours last week severely affected over 500 factories in the Morang-Sunsari industrial corridor, said Morang Chambers of Commerce and Industries acting chairman Mahesh Jaju.

They also complained of diminishing profits because of the irregular power supply and said they would adopt policy of no work no pay, which would render hundreds of workers jobless.

MCCI president Ashok Murarka demanded uniform loadshedding across the country and said that the decision by the authorities to implement hours-long power cuts in the eastern region as a conspiracy to ruin the industries here.

An NEA official said the entrepreneurs were demanding 15 MW of power in the evenings, 65 MW in the days and 75 MW in the mornings. NEA is, however, able to manage only 50 MW for the entire day.

Of the seven multi-fuel machines installed in Bansbari 20 years ago, only three are functioning and produce 15 MW power, half their capacity. These machines also need repairing, an NEA staffer said.