COIMBATORE: Representatives of industrial bodies from across Tamil Nadu on Monday declared that non-consideration of their demands, including a reduction in fixed and peak hour power charges, by the state government would hurt the ruling party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing the media, M Jayabal, co-ordinator of Tamil Nadu Industrial Electricity Consumers Federation, a conglomeration of MSME’s said, “if our demands are not met, the industrial sector wouldn’t hesitate to take any decision.”
“Two crore people are depending on 13 lakh MSME entrepreneurs. Any decision arrived at by this community will get reflected in the polls. At the same time, if the state government fulfills our demand, we also wouldn’t hesitate to pledge our support. Why is the state government refusing to provide subsidies to MSMEs as given to multinational firms,” he said.
Claiming of plans to meet Chief Minister MK Stalin to take up their demands, Jayabal exuded confidence that the state government would make positive announcements in this regard in the budget.
Industrial bodies have already held several rounds of protests demanding a rollback of peak hour charges and fixed charges, apart from revocation of tariff on solar rooftops and Grid Interactive PV Solar Energy Generating systems among other demands.