TN MSMEs To Go On Strike From Dec 18 For Power Tariff Cut

Chennai, Oct 17 (KNN) Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) across Tamil Nadu will go on strike from December 18 if their demand to reduce tariff is not met, said the organisers of a hunger strike in Chennai on Monday.

As many as 5,000 representatives of the various companies in the MSME sector from across the state participated in the hunger strike near Rajarathinam stadium on Monday, reported TOI. 

They demand reduction in the fixed charges which were hiked by upto 430%, as well as the doing away with the peak-hour consumption charges that were introduced to the low-tension consumers including the MSME sector. 

Their other demands include removal of networking charges for rooftop solar plants installed by the small scale industries for the captive use and cancelling the multi-year tariff formula for the next two years. 

The Tamil Nadu Industry Electricity Consumers’ Federation (TNIEC) that organised the protest has also planned to meet MLAs in respective constituencies on November 6 to submit a representation about their demands and a human chain on December 4 in all the districts.

A Selvaraj, advisor to the TNIEC, said, “We are hoping the state government will not let us to the extent of going of indefinite strike, but we are not giving up until our demands are met. If our demands are not met, we may have shut units or migrate elsewhere.” 

He said the latest announcement for seasonal industries to reduce the load as per their convenience will not happen without bribing officers on the field. 

According to him, several industries pay upto 1 lakh extra as electricity bill for the same connected load and consumption. 

(KNN Bureau)