Power cut: Coimbatore struggles to see light at end of the tunnel

Many areas went without electricity for over six hours on Wednesday

Coimbatore District had one of its worst power cuts in recent months on Wednesday, with most areas going without electricity for more than six hours during the day.

The day dawned for many with power supply going off at 5.30 a.m. The supply was restored at about 10.30 a.m. in some places and at 9 a.m. in some others only to go off again at noon. In the city, supply was not available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. even though the load shedding schedule for these areas was from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Most of the industries and offices did not function, Wednesday being a holiday on account of Vinayaka Chathurthi. However, life was thrown out of gear as the public had no idea when the supply would be restored or when it would not be available.

Power disruptions were frequent (almost five hours) on Tuesday night too.

“My elderly parents were worried because they could not switch on the geyser and have an early bath to celebrate Vinayaka Chathurthi,” said a resident of Singanallur. Households that had inverters could not charge the batteries because of the long duration of power cut. “It is very difficult when there are unexpected power cuts and for long hours on a festival day,” said another resident of Ramanathapuram.

“We have never had such a difficult time in the last four years,” said J. James, president of the Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises.

“It is unfair that the rest of the State suffers power cut for almost 16 hours a day and Chennai has power cut for just one hour or slightly more,” he added. The association has planned to organise a series of protests demanding the Government to provide relief to the micro industries from power cut.

The Coimbatore Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs Association have said that nearly 60 per cent of the micro industries have curbed production because of the more than eight hours of power cut during day time.

Chief Engineer of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation here A. Thangavelu said the State faced a shortage of nearly 6,000 MW on Wednesday. Wind energy generation was almost zero.

It picked up on Wednesday evening to about 1,500 MW.

According to data available on the Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation website, wind energy generation on Wednesday morning was just 191 MW as against 2,633 MW on September 12.