BENGALURU: Soon after Dasara, industries in Karnataka will be asked to operate a five-day week as the state government intends to ration power to the sector. Faced with an acute shortage, and keen on keeping domestic users and farmers happy ahead of panchayat elections in December, the government has decided to lower the axe on industry.

During the “power holiday”, the state will ask industries to shut down, in a staggered manner, an additional day in a week. The power cut will be enforced from 6am to 6am the next day, implemented on different weekdays for different industrial clusters.

“With the power crisis in Karnataka showing no signs of abating soon, we have decided to ask industries to have an extra holiday every week. We will soon hold a meeting with all industry bodies to seek their cooperation,’’ says Pankaj Pandey, MD of Bescom, the first of the escoms to impose a power holiday.

Despite the crisis, chief minister Siddaramaiah has some comforting words. “The power shortage that you are seeing today is a temporary phase. We are working towards energy security for Karnataka and planning to add 22 gigawatts of all forms of power by 2022,” he said on Wednesday at the inaugural of preparations for Invest Karnataka 2016.

Bescom officials say the state is facing a shortage of 2,500-3,000 MW of power every day in view of low generation in its thermal and hydroelectric stations. The shortfall, expected to grow in the coming weeks because of the festive season, could last until the new year.

By imposing a power holiday on over 10,000 industries, including large and medium ones in Bengaluru, the government hopes to save 250-300 MW per week. Pandey says Bescom will announce in 8-10 days power holidays for different industrial areas.

The severe power supply crisis is likely to stymie the efforts of the industries department to project the state as an attractive investment destination at Invest Karnataka in February 2016. “This will be a big blow to our plans to lure investors. Karnataka has to learn from Telangana, which imposed a two-day power holiday on industries and was later forced to withdraw it after potential investors started shying away,’’ says a senior official involved in preparations for Karnataka Invest.

A senior official in the energy department says the power holiday has nothing to do with shortage. “Ahead of the panchayat elections in December the government is keen on ensuring a minimum of 20 hours supply to domestic consumers and 10 hours of three-phase supply to rural areas in the backdrop of increasing farmer suicides. They desperately want suicides to stop by then,” according to him.

Vishwanath Belliappa, senior VP & Group Head, Enzen Global Solutions, dismisses the government claim that 250-300 MW will be saved. The proposed power holiday will, directly and indirectly, cause industries a loss of nearly Rs 200 crore. Instead, he says, the government should either extend the diesel subsidy for industry using captive power or buy power by spending another Rs 1,000 crore a month.

