Supply to be disrupted in Chennai for one hour a day Zonal system for industrial units to be revived CHENNAI: Acknowledging that the State is suffering from power shortage of 1,000 megawatt (MW), Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veeraswami on Friday announced that the scheme of "power holiday' will come into force from Monday. In Chennai, the supply would be disrupted for one hour a day. The city would be classified into eight divisions and each division would not have supply for an hour. Other municipal corporations and municipalities would have to go without supply for two hours. Asked whether he was declaring power cut, Mr Veeraswami told a press conference that it was a "power holiday, staggered power holiday.' He asserted that there would not be any disruption in the supply between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Hospitals and dairy units would be exempted. The zonal system of holidays for industrial units, implemented during February-May, would be revived. Industry had demanded restoration of the concessions that were given earlier. It had also sought exemption from value-added tax for diesel-run captive generation plants. To a query how the government was going to tide over the shortfall, the Minister replied that the zonal holiday for the industry would provide a relief of 375-400 MW and the power holiday for the cities and towns would save another 300 MW. The utilisation of captive generation sets would reduce the demand by 500 MW. Monsoon failure The Minister blamed the failure of southwest monsoon and "inadequate generation' by wind mills for the current crisis. Asked how long the present arrangements would be in force, he said they would be there till the revival of monsoon and sufficient inflow into hydropower stations. Mr. Veeraswami was interacting with journalists after holding a two-hour-long meeting with industrialists on the power scenario. As for the farm sector, he said agriculturists would get the supply for six hours during the day for five days and for four hours for two days. During night, supply would be provided for eight hours. In villages, supply would be disrupted for four hours on two days in a week. While the government would restore the earlier concessions, it was yet to decide on the VAT exemption for the captive generation plants. After a discussion with the industry, it was decided provisionally that the revenue loss that would accrue on account of the exemption would be shared in the ratio of 60:40 by the government and the industry. As for the State's share of electricity from the stations under the Central control, Mr Veeraswami said that about 60 per cent of the power was being received by the State. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi sanctioned Rs. 50 crore to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for purchase of power.