TIRUCHI
Bereft of financial capability for even settling electricity bills, small and medium enterprises earnestly expect the State Government to lift restrictions on resumption of production activities for getting on to a revival path.
“The industries do not have any cash flow as they are not in a position to raise bills for settlement by clients. Further extension of lockdown would cause complete collapse of the financial viability of industries to resume operations,” S. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary of Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries' Association said.
But for functioning of a few pharma units, the production activities in all the other industries have come to a complete standstill. The absence of fresh COVID 19 positive cases in the district over the last few days has infused hopes that the government could take a favourable decision for resumption of industrial activities in the district, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.
The decision of the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited to raise the bill for April 2020 instead of previous month billing was a step in right direction.
The TANGEDCO had taken the decision in deference to the representation by LT/LTCT (Low Tension Current Transformer) industrial and commercial consumers that the establishments had not functioned during the lockdown period, the charges for actual usage ought to be levied.
The industries have been told that 'self-assessment' reading by the consumers will be accepted.
The reading recorded by the consumers has to be sent through SMS/Whatsapp/E-mail message to the mobile number or email id of the Section Officer.
The LT/LTCT consumers have been advised to make use of online payment facilities to remit current consumption charges and other arrear charges."The industries are not in a position to settle the bill by May 3," Mr. Gopalakrishnan said, requesting for extension of the due date.