Chennai:
Devadarshini, studying for her class 12 board exams in her Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu home, has set herself a challenge: To better her 90 per cent last year. But the real hurdle in her way is that she has to study in the light an emergency lamp. "I want to get a very good result this year too, but frequent power cuts disturb my studies," she complains. Her teacher Julie Vasantha says some are studying by candlelight and grades are being dragged down.
Devadarshini and Julie aren't the only one complaining.
With up to 16 hours a day of no power, Coimbatore, a hub of cloth manufacturing, with more than 40,000 small scale units is losing Rs 1,500 crore a day since September, estimates the Confederation of India Industry.
The entire state of Tamil Nadu is crippled by a severe shortfall of power. Official sources say during peak season the state needs 13,500 MW of power but manages only 9500 MW.
Because of this, power cuts in Chennai -- which till last week went without electricity for just one hour a day -- had to be doubled because the government was taken to court by industry, trader and civil society bodies in the southern districts.
Jasline Jonathan from Coimbatore told NDTV, "Why this double standard by government? Two hours of power cut in Chennai and sixteen hours of power cut in rest of the state, are people living in Chennai only are human beings?"
Madurai-based S Rethinavelu, Senior President, Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, "We need a minimum of eight hours of uninterrupted power supply daily so that we can run at least one eight-hour shift in our factories."
The government is looking at the nuclear power plant at Kudankulam as a possible solution. It is due to generate 1000MW starting December. But that the long power cuts have added a conspiracy angle to the controversy already raging over the safety of the plant. Anti-nuclear protesters say that the power cuts are to influence public opinion in favour of the plant.
S P Udhayakumar, coordinator of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy told NDTV, "Whenever protests against the nuclear plant intensify, the government increases power cuts to make people believe that Kudankulam power plant will solve the problem. That is not true." The PMANE, along with local villagers and fishermen, has been protesting for several months against the nuclear plant, claiming that it is not safe for the population and the environment.
Off record, key officials in the state government deny this allegation. The state government, they say, is banking on more upcoming power projects to beat the crisis.
The ruling AIADMK has constituted a committee headed by the state power minister Natham Viswanathan to resolve the deepening crisis and expedite upcoming power projects.
Last October chief minister J Jayalalithaa had assured stable power supply in six months, but things are only turning worse. A similar situation had contributed to the DMK's crushing defeat in the last election. With Lok Sabha polls due in 2014, the two Dravidian arch rivals have already begun to blame each other of not doing enough to add adequate power generation infrastructure. But for the common man in Tamil Nadu it seems the "powerless" nightmare would continue till at least the beginning of next year.