Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, March 11 Canpack India, which produces glass bottles for breweries and pharmaceutical industries, may have to shut down its furnaces at its plants if the LPG supply does not resume within the next four days, its CEO said on Wednesday.
Restarting these furnaces will cost the company Rs 600 crore, Canpack India CEO Vikram Potdar said.
Potdar spoke to local reporters via phone during a quarterly media interaction organized by the Chamber of Marathwada Industries and Agriculture (CMIA).
Potdar discussed the situation at the company's plants located in the Waluj Industrial Area in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.
"We have two furnaces with a capacity of 425 tonnes each. We must maintain a temperature of 1,700 degrees in the furnaces. It is not like a car engine that you can switch off. Even without production, we have to maintain the temperature," he explained.
The CEO stated that Low Sulphur Heavy Stock (LSHS) and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) are the key fuels for these furnaces.
"We have sufficient LSHS for a few more days, but we are running out of LPG. We only have a four-day supply of LPG. We have initiated steps to shut the (supply) lines and prolong the process, and we hope to resume the supply during this period," he said.
The top official detailed the issues involved in restarting the furnaces.
He said, "If the supply is not resumed, it could cause safety issues for the people working inside the company. If the furnaces are shut down, the company faces a direct loss of Rs 600 crore, which is the cost required to restart them; the restart process takes about three months".
The official claimed that the company had written about the issue to the Maharashtra Chief Minister and the Petroleum Ministry. He said, "Our company has 1,000 employees in total, and the situation is critical for us".
There is also another aluminum can manufacturing unit here that needs LPG supply to run its ovens. If the supply is not resumed, that unit will also shut down.
"We have informed the oil companies, the Chief Minister, the Petroleum Minister and the industrial bodies about the situation," he said.
President of CMIA, Utsav Machar, told reporters that the association has received a copy of a gazette of the Central Government about the gas issue.
He said, "We have received the Gazette copy regarding the gas, but it will take time for the clarity to come, and we are waiting for it".