The operation of rice mills has been severely hit due to short supply of power in Mannachanallur and adjoining areas.
January to March is the peak season for the rice mills Mannachanallur, which is known for processing single boiled rice in the State. There are 40 rice mills in and around Mannachanallur.
Besides drying the fresh paddy that arrives directly from the paddy fields in Tiruchi and neighbouring districts through driers, the mills work round-the-clock to steam the paddy and remove the husk and the bran layers.
It is the time for the rice mills to run the machineries to their maximum capacity. But, most of the rice mills have downsized their operation because of shortage of power being supplied to them.
The current problem is said to be the fallout of a transformer that burst.
The transformer was primarily meant for transferring electrical energy to Mannachanallur, at Samayapuram in the last week of February.
Since then, the rice mills in Mannachanallur, it is alleged that, have been facing acute shortage of power.
More than two weeks have passed since the failure of the transformer.
But, the problem is yet to be solved.
Though the officials restored the power supply by transmitting power from Omanthur Sub Station, the rice mill owners are of the view that the supply is insufficient to operate machineries. “We require 420 volte of power to run the machinery. But, we get just around 340 volte. If we run the machines with low voltage, fault will occur in the motor. Hence, we have downsized the operation to a great extent,” says M. Sivanandan, president, Mannachanallur Taluk Rice Mill Owners and Paddy Rice Dealers Association.
According to a rough estimate, the mills in Mannachanallur dry about 1,200 tonnes of paddy a day through driers.
The operation is primarily to bring down the moisture content on paddy to 12%.
On an average, the mills produce about 600 tonnes of single boiled rice a day.
But, the production has come down to one fourth due to power supply issue.
Mr. Sivanandan said that it had made a cascading impact right from procurement to supply of rice to traders.
Nearly 50% of rice mill workers had become jobless.
Several rice mill owners could not pay to the farmers as the paddy sent by them was still piled up without being processed. Hence, the Tangedco should expedite the process of replacing the faulty transformer, he added.