COIMBATORE: Industrialists affiliated to the Recycling Textile Federation urged the Tamil Nadu government to fulfil long-pending demands of the state's industrial sector in the forthcoming State Budget, especially measures that are vital to reducing manufacturing costs and boosting competitiveness.
Federation Chairman M Jayabal listed eight priority demands. These include reducing High Tension (HT) demand charges by 50% for consumers below 1,000 kW, noting that tariffs have nearly doubled from Rs 300 to Rs 608 per kW in five years. The Federation also sought a 50% cut in fixed charges for Low Tension Current Transformer (LTCT) consumers, which have risen sharply from Rs 35 to Rs 165 per kW.
Other demands include raising the LTCT ceiling from 150 kW to 200 kW, allowing consumers above 100 kW to buy power directly from private suppliers, and abolishing HT-equivalent demand charges on LTCT users at 150 kW.
The federation further demanded the exemption of industrial units generating captive power from solar parks and wind farms from renewable energy wheeling charges.
On infrastructure improvements, the industrialists urged preventing industrial estates from being treated as real-estate projects, and providing Common Effluent Treatment Plants, natural gas connectivity and drinking water supply to both new and existing estates.
The Federation also sought district-level commercial complexes for product marketing, financial and regulatory support for participation in international trade fairs, and early completion of the long-pending Kochi-Salem natural gas pipeline.