Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

Tiruchi units keeping their fingers crossed

TIRUCHI: Industries in and around Tiruchi have come to terms with the harsh reality of power shortage by forgoing an entire eight-hour shift, but their patience over restoration of full quota of power in the near future is wearing thin.

The high-tension consumers, the worst affected, have no other alternative but to shell out a fortune to get their manufacturing process going without any interruption by sourcing power from diesel generators or paying three times higher as penalty for the power consumed from the TNEB grid beyond the 60 per cent limit.

Industry representatives wonder if there is any justification for making the sector alone face the brunt of power shortage. Paying anywhere between Rs.14 and Rs.16 a unit consumed beyond the permitted level has meant forgoing up to 6 per cent in the margin, especially for medium-scale units belonging to the BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) Small Industries Association in the high-tension category.

Both high-tension and low-tension current transformer (LTCT) consumers, in general, prefer to draw additional power from the grid rather than invest in captive generators as an interim measure. Moreover, banks are hesitant to lend to industries for setting up captive diesel power generators in this time of economic meltdown, according to S. Sridharan, president, Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries’ Association.

Vendors of the BHEL, who form the core of the industries in the small and medium segments in the region, say there is justification in their demand for lifting the restrictions for them as a special case given their contribution to betterment of the power scenario. In the last few months of the fiscal, these vendors race against time to fill 50 per cent of their annual orders. With power rationing in place, the situation is a cause for deep concern. “We have already lost substantial orders from BHEL to vendors in other States,” says K.G. Muralidharan, president, BHELSIA.

“We are definitely not able to meet the target because of power cut. For keeping up our delivery commitment, we have to attain the target of 1.25 lakh tonnes in the next few months. We are left with no choice but to pay three times higher for drawing power from the TNEB grid for our complete requirement, despite the phenomenal surge in the manufacturing costs.” Power equipment manufacturers must be exempt from power cuts during the crucial duration of the last three months of the fiscal, Mr. Muralidharan says.

There are also some industries that depend on captive power from diesel generators to make up for the shortage. G.B. Engineering Enterprises Private Ltd., for instance, is in this category. “We spend four times more to set right the shortage by running diesel generators, and ensure that there is 85 per cent supply all the while. The use of air-conditioners has been restricted,” says Managing Director B. Pattabhiraman. If the system of weekly power holidays is introduced, the TNEB must ensure that for the remaining days in the week, there is no peak-hour restriction or unscheduled power cuts.

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