CHENNAI: On the second day, the State Assembly witnessed heated arguments over prevailing power cuts in the State, during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address. Leader of the principal Opposition party Edappadi K Palaniswami, speaking on Wednesday on the motion to thank the Governor, blamed the incumbent DMK government for acute power cuts in the State.
Responding to his charges, Minister for Electricity V Senthil Balaji said that power cuts were routine in the former AIADMK government too and he listed out the number of power cuts during the AIADMK regime.Further, he charged the former AIADMK government with failing to use the full capacity of State power generation units and procuring power from the private companies at a high price. Following their lavish procurement, the State had to pay Rs 13,000 crore as interest alone, for TANGEDCO loan.
He further added that the incumbent government has taken steps to slash the interest rate following instructions of the Chief Minister and it is expected the interest for TANGEDCO would get a rebate of Rs 2,000 crore. And he further added that, to get full details about the mismanagement of TANGEDCO by the previous government, a detailed strategic study of the finance and governance structure of the TANGEDCO and TANTRANSCO will be carried out.
Senthil Balaji charged that the former AIADMK government procured power from private companies for a high price despite it being a long-term contract for 15 years and 25 years. It may be recalled that, on Tuesday also, the legislative house witnessed similar debates on the performance of TANGEDCO and power cuts.