On top of sleepless nights caused by relentless spells of power cuts, residents of Madurai are waking up to the possibility of more trouble in kitchen.
The bulk LPG tanker strike which began on Wednesday midnight would create more difficulty for domestic gas consumers. Delivery of gas cylinders will get even more delayed as distributors would run out of supplies with arrival of loads likely to get disrupted. “If this strike continues, it will disturb the schedule and ‘Indane' gas consumers will have to wait for longer periods. We are hoping that it is called off soon,” D. Murali, Senior Area Manager, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Madurai Area Office, told The Hindu on Thursday.
LPG tankers which were on the way to Madurai have reached the bottling plants on Thursday and hence normal supplies could be managed for the day. But, there could be disruption in the next few days and domestic consumers will have no choice but to bear it.
The strike was called by Southern Region Bulk LPG Transporters' Association across the southern States pressing for various demands, including revision of transportation charges by oil companies.
“On Thursday, the LPG bottling plants at Vadipatti in Madurai district and Ilayangudi in Sivaganga district functioned normally despite the strike. However, it could get affected from Friday as arrival of loads will get disrupted. We get 25 tankers of LPG a day from Mangalore” Mr. Murali said.
The IOC Madurai Area Office has 17 lakh domestic consumers in 10 southern districts.
Sleepless nights
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) is giving sleepless nights to citizens of Madurai and southern districts, which have been hit hard by a spate of unscheduled power cuts. On Wednesday night, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. alone, residents faced between 10 and 15 bouts of power cuts — each lasting between a few minutes to 45 minutes.
The new system of load shedding has brought little relief to the southern districts which are still facing well over six hours of power outage.
Mosquito menace too
T. Sundarapandian, a resident of Kamarajar Salai, complained that power cuts on Wednesday night was intolerable as besides the heat, the mosquitoes menace was compounding the misery. “Students are unable to study at all. Yesterday evening, we were celebrating the birthday of our child and we had a lot of guests. The unscheduled power cuts completely spoiled the event.”
While there was some relief on Monday when TANGEDCO began implementing the new load shedding system, Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) president V.S. Manimaran said that since Tuesday the power situation had reverted to the earlier routine of six hours in two spells.
NTPC Unit offline
A TANGEDCO official here said that the quantum of relief expected from the new load shedding system had not materialised, resulting in over 10 hours of load shedding in the evening and late hours of Wednesday.
Further, a 500 MW-unit at National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) power station in Ramagundam in Andhra Pradesh went offline on Wednesday night. Coming at a time of intense shortage, this compounded the problems resulting in a spate of power cuts, the official added.
