How Are You Handling Weekly Holiday Shifts Due to Power Shortages? Seeking Advice

Dear superiors,

Due to a power shortage, we have shifted our weekly holiday from Sunday as instructed by TNEB. The Power Minister has announced that we can shift our holiday to Sunday from May 2008. Our employees are now asking to shift the weekly holiday to Sunday. Our maintenance department is saying that unless TNEB gives an order, we cannot shift.

How are you, superiors, managing this issue? If a husband and wife are working, they will get different weekly holidays. They may not be able to spend time together, which could lead to psychological and social problems.

Your views, please.

Seshadri. V

There's a power crisis brewing in Tamil Nadu. The state has directed industries to go for compulsory load shedding. But is this enough?

This summer, Tamil Nadu faces one of its biggest power crisis ever. With demand exceeding supply for the first time in a decade, the State Electricity Ministry has announced compulsory load shedding in the industrial areas. The worst hit are IT companies and manufacturing units, which will have to undergo a compulsory power shut down once a week.

The present supply of power in Tamil Nadu is about 7,500 mw, whereas the demand is close to 8,000 mw. It's expected to reach 9,000 mw in the coming months.

The state plans to buy power from Assam and Haryana to meet the demand. It's also looking to improve its own infrastructure.

“Now, we are taking action and are trying to install minimum 3,000 mw of power plant within 36 months,” said Arcot Veeraswamy, Electricity Minister, Tamil Nadu.

But it may take longer than that. Most of the merchant power plants are still in the stage of finalizing land. They will take at least four more years to get completed. Till then, the brunt of this crisis will have to be borne by small manufacturing industries, who cannot afford generators.

Tamil Nadu had attracted industries with the promise of providing uninterrupted power supply. But looking at the power condition in the state, it looks like that this USP cannot be used to woo further industries.

Article courtesy By Divya Rajagopal and Ramya Ramamurthy, CNBC-TV18