The Hindu Business Line : Power-starvation, with ‘captive’ denied

Chennai, March 20 That power shortages cripple the industry is no news. But it may come as a surprise to many that the power-starved industrial units have been prevented from using their captive power facilities on the designated days of weekly holiday.

“We have been instructed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board not to use generators on Mondays, the new ‘official’ holiday from last month, instead of our usual Sundays,” informs Mr D. Sundar, Managing Director, Mahalakshmi Tools and Machinery Pvt Ltd, Chennai. He has a unit in Padi.

On the shift from Sundays to Mondays, as the now-compulsory weekly holiday for industrial units, Mr Sundar observes that the factory output on Sundays is typically low, because of the general weekend mood among the staff.

“Earlier, on Sundays, when power supply from the grid used to be cut off, as per scheduled load-shedding, we used to run our generators and carry on with our shifts, either for emergency work or for maintenance,” says Mr Sundar, speaking to Business Line.

“Now, on Mondays, the revised holiday, we have been barred from using generators, on the premise that there is ‘return power’,” he adds. “As a result, we cannot even switch on lights or work at computers, on Mondays.”

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