Protest against power cut

October 20, 2012 12:05 am | Updated June 24, 2016 02:52 pm IST - SIVAKASI:

A section of women participating in a fast against power cuts in Sivakasi on Friday.

A section of women participating in a fast against power cuts in Sivakasi on Friday.

Hundreds of industrialists and employees observed a fast here in protest against prolonged power cuts.

President of Masters Printers’ Association A. Balasubramanian said that at least 30,000 employees in around 1,000 printing units, polythene manufacturing units and allied industry suffered due to power cuts experienced in the industrial town. “We face power cut for at least 12 to 14 hours a day. We do not get power for more than one hour at a stretch,” he said. The loss of production of these units was in the range of Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 15 crore a day, he said.

Stating that the polythene manufacturing units were the worst hit, he said that besides facing production loss, the units faced huge wastage of raw materials for frequent power cuts. “The power guzzling machinery required at least an hour for reaching the required temperature for production. However, immediately after touching the optimum temperature the power goes off and the raw materials go waste,” he said.

Since many of these printing, packing and polythene manufacturing units suffered loss of production, their allied units also suffered.

Stating that this being the peak season for production of diaries and calendars, Mr. Balasubramanian, said that orders were getting diverted to Chennai and other States because of the grim power situation.

The protestors demanded that the electricity board officials should schedule the power cut so as to ensure that the units got uninterrupted power supply for a minimum of six to seven hours a day. They also wanted the government to expedite the works in the power projects under implementation. Till such time the projects were over, the government should take measures to purchase power to meet the minimum demands of the State, he said.

A similar protest was staged in Aruppukottai where hundreds of people took part.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

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 The Hindu 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.