Chennai to face 2-hr power cut every day

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Why should Chennai be spared when the rest of Tamil Nadu is reeling from up to eight hours of power cut every day?

The question oft posed by residents staying outside the capital, opposition parties and industries was satisfactorily answered Friday when the government decided to increase load shedding in the city from one to two hours. Consequently, the burden on people in the rest of the state would be reduced by as many hours, if not more.

Sources said the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, and attended by electricity minister R. Viswanathan and TNEB chairman Rajeev Ranjan, among others, to review the power situation in the state.

The government also reportedly decided to increase HT industries power cut from 20 per cent to 40 per cent and introduced scheduled weekly power holidays for the sector. Power thus saved will be diverted for domestic consumption.

By increasing load shedding in Chennai and reducing power supply to HT industries, TNEB plans to save 600 MW, which would be distributed to the rest of the state.

The state’s power demand is 11,500 MW but it is facing a deficit of 3,500 MW. The crisis is due to the failure of TNEB to expedite pending power projects and non-maintenance of existing plants.