India’s power hub- Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu will soon turn into the power hub of India, thanks to Tamil Nadu’s very active Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and his investment friendly policies.

The fourth Electrica 2006, an exhibition organized by the Madras Electric Traders Association (META) was inaugurated on Sunday. Ineligible light bulbs, PVC switch boards, cables, and other motley electrical fittings and hundreds of stalls were stuffed with all electrical things as the exhibition kicked off.

Arcot N Veerasamy, Electricity Minister, said that the government is taking all necessary steps to raise Tamil Nadu and make it the power hub of the country. He said that the state is boosting the setting up of more electronic and electrical industries.

To manifest this ambition, the government will soon float tenders and all those who are interested in setting up power generation units, can apply. Preparation of forms has already started and they will be available within a month.

Veerasamy said that there is a need for industrial development in Tamil Nadu because the state uses electric products worth Rs 5,000 crore but not even 10% of the total demand is met.

Due to the acceptable policies made by the Chief Minister, many companies are coming to Tamil Nadu to set up their shops in the state. A Malaysian firm would soon set up its new factory in the state, investing Rs 12,000 crore.

In order to pep up the businessmen to set up their establishments in the state, loans upto Rs 1 crore will be provided to them for those who are setting small scale companies. The government has also decided to introduce value added tax system from next year which will benefit the traders and consumers of electric and electronic products.

In order to cope up with the low voltage problem, the government will install 1.6 lakh transformers in rural areas and 300 sub stations will be established in the coming years. Power theft and transmission loss will also be taken care of.