Industries seek all KKNPP power for TN
Industries demands full utilisation of power generated from the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant.
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2013-12-02 11:30 GMT
Coimbatore: Industries in the region have demanded the full utilisation of power generated from the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant until the power crisis ended for the state, besides emphasising equal distribution of power supply across the state.
“As the whole state has been suffering without power, it should first be fully utilised for the benefit of the state. The situation in the industries in the region has gone worse due to power crisis and the recent announcements of power generated from the nuclear power plant will be heartwarming if fully utilised for Tamil Nadu,” said S Ravikumar, president, Coimbatore Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs Association (COTMA).
When the plant had begun generating electricity in the state, against much odds, why not consider its first utilisation for the state itself, when power crisis had been crippling industries for the past five years, asked J James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises (TACT). It was the common demand not from industries but from all sections of people that it had to be utilised fully for the state to lift it up from the situation.
Industries said that though there was a two-hour power cut announced for Chennai, it was only to pacify those in the districts as they were demanding equal distribution across the state. The industries here were left without power for over seven hours a day. “There should be some equality in meeting the demands of people in all the districts, and not one should be favoured over the other,” said TACT.
‘30% powerloom production hit due to power cuts’
Erode: Powerloom industry in Tamil Nadu has suffered 30 per cent production loss due to power cuts in the past one month, a top official of the Powerloom Development & Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) said on Sunday. There were 4.5 lakh powerlooms functioning in the state and they usually produce 50 lakh metres of cloth daily. But in the past one month, the industry along with others had been badly hit by power shutdown, bringing down the production by 30 per cent, PDEXCIL Vice-Chairman (South) V.T. Karunanidhi said. Due to the decrease in production, the powerloom owners were facing heavy financial loss as they were not able to complete the orders taken, he told reporters here.
All Traders Associations of Erode District Chairman N Sivanesan said because of the "undeclared" powercut industries, including small scale, were incurring huge loss.
The power situation in the state, which improved in the middle of the year, has again become bad forcing the government to re-introduce load-shedding in Chennai from this month in view of increased power cut in other parts of the state. Complaining that central generating units alone accounted for 2500 MW shortfall in the past one month, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention to restore normalcy.