Thiruvananthapuram/Thrissur:
The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to lift the 30 minute load shedding, in force in the state since the first week of this month.
The cabinet, which met in Thiruvanthapuram today asked the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) to withdraw the load shedding in view of the improved power situation, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters.
KSEB would lift the restrictions today or tomorrow, he said to a question.
The original decision was to continue the restrictions till May 30. However, the power situation had improved as the state received more summer rains this time, Mr Chandy said.
He said Kerala would continue to purchase power from outside if necessary. The Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission had recently permitted KSEB to continue load shedding till May 31. It gave the directive after rejecting Board's request to extend the restrictions for some more days.
Meanwhile, The Kerala Vyaparavedi state committee on today appealed to the Electricity Tariff Regulatory Commission not to permit further increase power tariff.
Vedi's president, Varghese Neelankavil, in a letter to the commission has sought a direction to the KSEB to launch proceedings to collect arrears totalling Rs 1,672 crore and save the common man from the burden of further hike of electricity charge.
The KSEB has demanded an increase in tariff to set off its losses.