Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Industrial Electricity Consumers’ Federation have called for a State-wide human chain protest on December 12 to demand the government to withdraw power tariff hike.
The decision on the protest was arrived at a meeting of the Federation of Coimbatore Industrial Associations (FOCIA), the Tamil Nadu Industrial Electricity Consumers’ Federation and Recycle Textile Federation held in Coimbatore on Tuesday.
Organisers said that the protest was to draw the attention of the Chief Minister to their five main demands — withdrawal of the hike in fixed charges, exemption from peak hour charges, removal of costs for rooftop solar energy generation, charging MSMEs with less than 12 KW under tariff III A (1) instead of III B and suspension of annual hike in electricity charges for two years.
J. James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Tiny Enterprises, said the protest would be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on December 12. In Coimbatore, the protest is planned at Gandhipuram.
“If our demands are accepted before December 12, we will use the opportunity to thank the government,” he said.
