Power-shedding should be resorted to uniformly throughout the State, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. Sparing Chennai from power cuts and increasing the duration of power cuts in other areas is a clear case of discrimination. This denies level playing-field for industries in other districts.

According unfair advantage to Chennai-based industries is agonising when the Government professes keenness to motivate entrepreneurs in the industrially-backward southern districts, said Mr N. Jegatheesan, Chamber President, in a statement here.

He said increase in power-cut duration from two hours to three hours together with unannounced power cuts daily has hamstrung industries in all the districts, except Chennai. The impairment is keenly felt by small and medium industrial units in southern districts, which lag in industrial growth. Long and unscheduled load-shedding result in wastage, with inability to maintain output and quality.

Industries are compelled to pay wages to workers even for idle hours during power cuts increasing cost of production, which coupled with production loss leads to higher commodity prices. Frequent stoppage of production, especially in continuous-process industries — like plastic, rubber and textiles — cause insurmountable production loss andwastage. The unit-cost of production of power using diesel generators is higher than supplied by Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, and the small-scale industries cannot afford it, he said. The Government must — irrespective of why Chennai never has power cuts — grant tax concessions and electricity-tariff subsidy to industrial units in the southern districts, he emphasised.

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