Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his personal intervention in ensuring the allocation of 1,000 MW from the National Power Grid. She has also urged him to allocate the entire excess power of 1,721 MW Delhi intends to surrender, to Tamil Nadu.
“There is severe shortage of power in Tamil Nadu due to the failure of the South West Monsoon and the constraints we face in buying power from sources outside the Southern Region due to corridor congestion.
“Due to the demand-supply gap of about 4,000 MW, which is the highest in the Southern Region, widespread load shedding is being resorted to causing severe hardship to consumers,” read Jayalalithaa’s letter, adding that food production has also taken a hit.
“I have already pointed out that the deficit situation in Tamil Nadu has been aggravated due to corridor congestion and have repeatedly requested your urgent intervention to ensure that the required quantum of 1,000 MW of power transmission capacity is made available to enable Tamil Nadu to receive the power contracted by the TANGEDCO,” the Chief Minister said.
She also pointed out that she had asked him in earlier letters to allot 1,000 MW of power to Tamil Nadu, to ease the deficit. But only 100 MW had been allotted, and just 78 MW of this is being made available. This had made load shedding across the State acute, she added.
She also noted that the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi has proposed to surrender for the period between November 2012 and March 2013 about 230 MW round the clock and 1,491 MW between midnight and 6 am.