Unpredictable and long spells of power cut have begun to infuriate people in most parts of the State. With domestic consumers of electricity experiencing, on an average, 12 to 14 hours of load-shedding, there are increasing signs of people losing their patience.
Wailing agitations, token fast programmes, torch processions, people squatting on roads and shorter version of ‘hartals’ and ‘bandhs’ are among the tactics being adopted by the people to give expression to their ordeal. A few days ago, the Pudukottai district police had to resort to force, when a mob blocked traffic at Iluppur and refused to disperse despite attempts by top police and Revenue officials to pacify them.
The situation has become so serious that police protection has been provided to the offices of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) at Tennur, Mannarpuram and Srirangam, all in Tiruchi district.
Novel forms of protest
A few weeks ago, at Erode, various organisations came together to light candles in public to protest the power supply situation. Some days ago, the Bharathiya Kisan Sangam preferred a novel complaint with the Musiri police station contending that power had been “stolen in the State.” It pleaded for serious initiative to “trace and restore it.”
Though load-shedding is nothing new and has been in force in some form for the last five years, during the present spell consumers in most parts of the State have been witnessing, in the last three weeks, 12 to 14 hours of power cut in a day.
Only in Chennai whose average demand is 2,400 megawatt out of the State’s total average demand of 12,000 MW, the duration is one hour. This differential treatment, a legacy of the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime, continues even in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government. And this is one of the issues that exercise consumers in other parts of the State.
The effects of the power supply situation are visible. The farming community is one among the worst hit and agricultural activities in the Cauvery delta have been largely affected. “We don’t get adequate power for pumpsets and hence cultivation cannot not be taken up,” says V. Jeevakumar, a farmer of Budalur of Thanjavur district.
Engineering colleges in Namakkal district spend Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 90,000 a day on diesel for generators to be used in laboratories and hostels.
Sales drop
For Erode-based dairy units, there has been a 20 per cent drop in sales as retailers are facing problems in storing the products and selling them. “Many retailers hesitate to purchase more stock because of the frequent power cuts,” says T. Sathish Kumar, who runs a dairy firm.
In Madurai, the value of monthly industrial production of small units has gone down, on an average, from Rs. 350 crore to Rs. 200 crore.
As the situation turns precarious, small and micro entrepreneurs in Cuddalore district are toying with the idea of shifting to nearby Puducherry. President and secretary of the Micro and Small Enterprises’ Association, S. Ashok and G. Ramalingam, say they cannot afford to run the units on generator sets and the workforce has been kept idle. Nevertheless they would have to foot the wage bills in full. The “Plus One—Minus One formula” (alternate hour power supply) adopted by the TANGEDCO has rendered their units incapacitated, they claim.
( With inputs from G. Srinivasan in Thanjavur, Syed Muthahar in Tiruchi, R. Sairam in Madurai, M. Soundariya Preetha in Coimbatore and A.V. Raghunathan in Cuddalore )
