Comments
Industry associations in Coimbatore have cried foul over the reported insistence of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd (TANGEDCO) on the industries not to draw power from the grid which amounted to ‘100 per cent power cut' being imposed unofficially.
They also pointed out that the Corporation was applying different yardsticks to Chennai city and the rest of Tamil Nadu by exempting Chennai from power cut even while imposing power cut on cities such as Coimbatore and feared that Coimbatore units would lose their competitive advantage if this persisted.
In a statement, Mr Mahendra Ramdas, President, Tamilnadu Electricity Consumers Association, Mr M. Kandhaswami, President, Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) and Mr R.R. Ranghanathen, President, Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association (Siema), said TANGEDCO, which had increased power cut from 20 per cent to 30 per cent from April 1, has been asking members from April 10{+t}{+h} morning ‘not to draw power from the grid', which meant that ‘100 per cent power cut is being imposed unofficially'.
They pointed out that though the associations have been pressing TANGEDCO and the State Government to distribute power cut equally across the State, it was regrettable that while Chennai which consumed 4,000 MW of power ‘has been totally exempted from power cut', Coimbatore that required 1,500 MW of power has been one of the worst affected due to ‘unequal power cut'.
The leaders of the associations argued that it was ‘unfair on the part of TANGEDCO' to apply different yardsticks to different regions in enforcing power cut. If power cut for two hours was imposed in Chennai, 500-600 MW of power could be made available to the grid, which would provide some relief to the consumers across the State.
More cuts
While expressing fears that post elections, the intensity of power cut may go up, they urged TANGEDCO to take immediate steps to evacuate power from power surplus states and not to force the consumers, mainly the HT consumers, to stop drawing power from the grid, pushing the industries already reeling under a host of problems such as spiralling raw material prices, high interest rate, man power shortage etc, into deeper trouble. With workers having to be paid salaries in spite of factories not working due to power shortage, the Coimbatore industries would lose their competitive edge, they said.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.