Chennai: Alleging that non-cooperation on part of TANGEDCO officials stalled the transportation of a 149-ton vacuum chamber meant for the Satish Dhawan Space Centre or Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR) in Andhra Pradesh, a private logistics company approached the Madras high court seeking relief.Kalaivani Transport, which is moving the equipment from the manufacturer in Tiruvottriyur, said the space centre had issued a certificate on April 4 that the chamber needs to be transported to Sriharikota by road and requested all the authorities concerned to extend cooperation.After getting the required police permission for the transit through Minjur-Ponneri road, the petitioner immediately commenced the transportation. But during the transit, the vehicle had to be stopped at MFL junction in the Minjur-Ponneri road since the lorry has to cross high tension tower line at the junction."It was necessary to switch off the power supply to avoid any untoward incident as the same would bind on us and would not be compensated. So we made a representation on May 24 to the Superintendent Engineer - Operation, North Chennai TANGEDCO requesting to switch off the power supply. But to the shock and surprise, the department directed us to remit Rs 54.16 lakh as shut down charges," the petitioner added.Pointing out that the deputy director of the space centre has also made a similar request which was also not considered by TANGEDCO, the petitioner claimed that the delay in transportation would affect the commissioning schedule of space projects.The petitioner wanted the court to direct the authorities concerned to immediately shut down the power enabling safe transit of the chambers. Admitting the plea, Justice M. Duraiswamy ordered notice to the TANGEDCO returnable by one week.

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