Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Zonal holiday system adds to the woes of small units

CHENNAI: Zonal holiday for industrial units, on every Monday, being implemented from this week by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has not gone down well with many entrepreneurs, particularly those in the small scale sector.

It is adding to the problems of the units already battling soaring raw material prices, a manpower crunch and delay in getting their payments, they said.

Manufacturing operations in the power intensive plastic processing units are likely to come under strain following the implementation of the zonal holiday system, said G. Suresh, member of Nehru Nagar Perungudi Industrial Association. It is only adding to their problems with regard to the unscheduled power cuts and voltage fluctuations, he complained.

Given that the units have a weekly off, the system has effectively resulted in only five working days. While implementing the system, the TNEB should ensure that the quality and supply of power is stable on other working days, Mr. Suresh, a plastic processor said.

S. Srinivasan, president, Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturers’ Association (AIEMA), said the government should exempt small-scale units from the zonal holiday system.

The SSIs were sagging under the rising raw material costs, manpower shortage and delayed payment from customers.

K. Gopalakrishnan, secretary, Tamilnadu Small and Tiny Industries Association (TANSTIA), said the decision of the TNEB affected the small and tiny units badly.

The zonal holiday system was the last they expected from the State government, he added.

T. Sadagopan, an entrepreneur in Pattabiram, said given that the weekly off for the units was Sunday, zonal holiday on Mondays should be avoided.

Aggravating the problems for the units was the maintenance shutdown on Tuesday, as it happened this week for industrial units in the western suburbs of Chennai.

On whether industrial units would start working on Sundays, many SSI entrepreneurs said it would not succeed as a majority of workers would not turn up for duty.

A senior official of the TNEB said the basis of announcing Monday as ‘zonal holiday system’ for industrial units in and around the city was due to the request from industrial units.

The official said that regarding the overlapping of power shutdown, the matter would be looked into.

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