The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Long wait for electricity meters to end soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 28, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Long wait for electricity meters to end soon

S. Sundar

30,000 gadgets expected in Madurai in a week

MADURAI: The long wait for electricity consumption reading meters will come to an end soon in the five districts under Madurai Region of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. A total of 30,000 meters are expected to arrive here in a week to cater to the demand of Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts.

Testing under way

A TNEB official said that the Board had already placed orders for the meters and the testing of equipment was under way at the factory in Noida.

“Testing is expected to be completed in three to four days. And after that it will only be the time taken for transporting them to Madurai before the distribution starts,” the official said.

The lack of meters had put around 10,000 applicants seeking new electricity connections to untold sufferings.

Some of them have been waiting for over three months.

“I have been walking to the EB office for two months now. But, every time I go there I get the same reply: No stock,” said a resident of Tiruppalai .

The inordinate delay in providing temporary power connection owing to lack of meters had even threatened to put their home loan proposal in jeopardy.

“Without power connection, there is no water and construction cannot be started.

The bankers are threatening to cancel the loan agreements as loan-seekers are not able to show any progress in construction within the stipulated time,” he said.

Diesel motors

In some places, people have turned to diesel motors to keep the work on.

Stating that the equipment manufacturers had raised the selling cost, the official said that price negotiation between the manufacturer and TNEB had taken a long time, by which even the buffer stocks had been cleared.

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