The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Power outlook improves

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 13, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Power outlook improves

T. Ramakrishnan

High temperatures, use of air-conditioners blamed for disruptions

CHENNAI: The power supply situation in the city, characterised by prolonged disruptions in the last few weeks, will see an improvement in the coming days, officials say.

Ashok Nagar, Anna Nagar, Kilpauk and western part of Velachery were among the localities that bore the brunt of power failures recently. Two reasons have been given for this. Even after the "Khatri" season, the temperature did not come down. Instead, it remained at 40 degree Celsius. The use of air-conditioners has gone up manifold with the improvement in lifestyle and the aggressive marketing by manufacturers of the equipment.

Another reason was the strike by a section of contract labourers in the Electricity Board which went on nearly for two weeks. The labourers, belonging to the Central Organisation of Tamil Nadu Electricity Employees (COTEE), an arm of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, struck work, demanding absorption by the Board.

Generally, the contract labourers are used at the field-level for functions such as attending to faulty cables. The recent strike hit the repair works substantially, sources in the EB admit, saying that during the strike period, the works had to be handled by full-timers in the Board.

Contract labour

The significance of the contract labourers has to be seen in the context of growing population of power consumers. S. Pancharatnam, general secretary of the COTEE, says that about 10 years ago, the number of consumers in the State was one crore. Now, it has touched 1.6 crores. "Correspondingly, there is no recruitment to lower posts in these years. Also, the vacancies have not been filled," he says. On the basis of an assurance by the Electricity Minister, the labourers resumed work from June 10.

Now, with the withdrawal of the strike, any repair can be attended to immediately, the power managers say. "Most of the pending works have been covered. In a few days, the remaining will be handled," they add.

On an average, the demand of the city is now about 1,500 megawatt, a rise of 15 per cent compared to the previous year. The officials say that there is no cause for worry about meeting the growing demand. At the same time, all the improvement works in transmission and distribution are being executed.

Computerised billing

Power consumers want the EB management to pay more attention to the completion of computerisation of the billing work for low-tension consumers. They also demand that the EB authorities should work in tandem with other service providers in establishing "one-stop shops" for the payment of all utility bills.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu