A total of 140 government, aided and private schools in Madurai district that are venue to Standard X and XII public examinations have been exempted from load shedding by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).
Both the theory and practical examinations have been included. The exemptions began on February 4 and would remain in force till all the examinations are completed.
A list of all the public examination centres in southern districts was obtained well-ahead of the examination from the respective Chief Educational Officers and District Educational Officers, TNEB Madurai Region sources told The Hindu on Thursday.The Madurai Region comprises of Madurai, Dindigul,
Sivaganga, Theni and Ramanathapuram districts. Around 550 MW of savings is accrued through the scheduled load shedding in Madurai Region. An additional demand of 175 MW is being met by the TNEB on
account of the exemptions, sources said. Giving a circle-wise break up,
sources said that Madurai Metro Circle requires an additional 51 MW, Madurai 25 MW, Dindigul 37 MW, Theni 11 MW, Sivaganga 40 MW and Ramanathapuram 15 MW.
This additional demand is being met by increasing the power purchase from private power producers and wind mills contributing on some occasions. However, power generation from wind mills had been down in the last one week. The load on the TNEB due to these examinations had increased compared to the last year as the number of centres had increased, the officials noted.
Sources said that the TNEB headquarters has instructed all the Regions to give exemptions to all feeders that supply power to the schools that are public examination venues. This would also benefit the residential areas in vicinity of the schools, sources said. The exemptions are given for the load sheddings that were scheduled from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
