CHENNAI: The main opposition AIADMK on Thursday literally presented a chargesheet against the DMK government in the Assembly on the prevailing electricity shortage while the ruling party tried to retaliate by giving an account of the measures taken to increase the power generation and by pointing out the failures of the previous AIADMK regime.
Initiating a discussion on the demands for grants for Energy department, former Electricity Minister R Viswanathan said the inefficient administration of the DMK, purchase of substandard coal for power stations, poor maintenance of power stations and lack of concrete measures to increase power generation were the primary reasons for the current shortage and the losses incurred by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).
Viswanathan said power cuts and DMK regimes were synonymous with each other and Tamil Nadu, a surplus power State during the AIADMK regime, now had become a deficit power State putting the people to hardship.
Electricity Minister Arcot N Veeraswami trumpeted that the government was planning to generate 40,000 mw at a cost of Rs 1.60 lakh crore. But during the past four years, only 203 mw could be generated.
Pointing out the contradictory information given in the policy note for energy department, Viswanathan said while the actual installed capacity of the TNEB was just 10,214 mw, the government had mentioned an exaggerated figure (15,800 mw) by adding the power generated through sources like renewable energy, co-generation and captive power plants etc.