The Standing Council of Trade Unions, Ernakulam, has welcomed plans to set up a container freight station on 271 acres leased to HMT and another to establish a Central Polymer Science Institute on 150 acres of land on lease to Hindustan Insecticides Limited.
A statement issued here on Tuesday by the Standing Committee, however, expressed its anxiety over reports that the State government planned to put these chunks of land to other uses and called for measures like new government ventures to protect and sustain the public sector undertakings concerned.
General convener of the Standing Council K. N. Gopinath appealed to the government to renew the land lease to HIL and sought government help to save Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL). A meeting of the Standing Council in Kalamassery on Monday also noted that the move to hike electricity charges would affect industries in the State badly.
The statement issued by the Council said that Extra High Tension consumers paid Rs. 3.50 a unit at present, over which is a 25 paise surcharge on each unit.
And, the latest hike involves an additional 20 paise per unit.
Over and above these, Kerala State Electricity Board has claimed that it would have a revenue deficit of Rs. 3,240 crore during 2012-13.
The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission has scheduled hearings on the KSEB claims on March 1 and 6 at Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi respectively.
The Standing Council appealed to all categories of consumers to present their views at these hearings.
The Electricity Board has proposed 15 per cent restrictions on EHT and HT consumers with a provision that those consuming power above 85 per cent will pay Rs. 10.50 per unit, implying that an average of Rs. two will have to be paid additionally for a unit of electricity.
The Electricity Board's plan is to hike power charges and not to restrict power drawing, said the statement as it pointed out that a public sector undertaking like Travancore Cochin Chemicals would have to pay an additional Rs. 2.5 crore a month in electricity charges.
