Combining political discourse with the factual position of the State’s power scenario, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday assured people that the present problem of electricity shortage would be totally overcome by the end of 2013.
“Load shedding, which has become acute, will gradually be set right and by November end, there will be substantial improvement [in the power supply],” Ms Jayalalithaa said in a televised address shown on Jaya TV in the evening. Several power generation projects were in different stages of execution and from next month, they would start generation one after the other.
Clarifying at the outset that neither she nor her government was responsible for the power crisis, the Chief Minister criticised former Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi for not doing much in respect of capacity addition.
Had the government led by him, which took office in 2006, carried on the projects initiated by her previous regime (2001-2006) with the same level of urgency, many of the projects would have been commissioned during 2006-2011.
Contrasting the performance of her regimes during 1991-1996 and 2001-2006 with that of the DMK government, Ms Jayalailthaa said in the first term, the capacity addition was 1,302 megawatt (MW) and in the second, 2,518 MW. But, a mere 206 MW was added in the last DMK regime during 2006-2011.
Pointing out that the State’s demand had now grown to 12,000 MW, she said a shortfall of 4,000 MW had arisen as a result of lack of maintenance of power stations, administrative inefficiency and fall in production, all of which marked the previous DMK regime.
She particularly attacked Mr Karunanidhi for “his betrayal of people of Tamil Nadu.” Apart from being lax in continuing the execution of her previous regime’s projects, his government had “deliberately reduced” power generation in the State only with a motive to “buying high cost power for selfish reasons,” she alleged. Instead of power purchase on long term basis, short-term purchases were made.
Referring to constraints in transmission corridor, Ms. Jayalalithaa explained that her government, on assumption of office last year, had tied up with Gujarat for 500 MW but only 235 MW was realised due to congestion in the corridor. Even now, Tamil Nadu had entered into pact with other States for 1,100 MW. Again, just 85 MW could be obtained.
Reminding the people that it was the Union government’s responsibility to establish the corridor, she said the Centre, which had provided adequate corridor for northern States, neglected the south, particularly Tamil Nadu. In the last 16 years, the DMK had been in power at the Centre except for one year. “What have its Union Ministers done for Tamil Nadu?” she asked, blaming the Union Ministers belonging to the DMK and Congress for not taking steps in establishing transmission corridor for the State.
Recalling that she, immediately on return to power last year, had pleaded with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for allocating 1,000 MW to the State to tide over the shortage, the Chief Minister wanted to know whether the DMK and Congress nominees in the Union Cabinet took up with the Prime Minister to get power for the State. “What help on the power front has been rendered by the DMK and Congress members, who are saying that the State is plunged in darkness?”
The full responsibility for the present problem of shortage should be borne by the Congress-led Union government and the previous DMK regime, she emphasised.
Keywords: power shortage, power situation, power crisis, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, DMK, UPA Government
For the questions on why the deficit has increased,lets take a simple example of how many new residential projects are completed every month, how many new Air Conditioners are sold every month, all these are adding to the demand. I think JJ has already put few projects on hold to meet the current demand first. We will have to be practical and understand the problem. One thing i would agree though is the lack of governance to monitor the wastage of power in the city. I agree we all pay our Electricity bills. But all decorative lights for shops,campaigns,temple functions are to be blamed. If they had used it with atmost care, keeping aside our sentiments, we could have atleast given more to our neighbhouring cities.I'm not here to support any party, But in cities we waste power.
What i fail to understand that when India can give over 5000 MW to Pakistan then why cant even 1000 MW to TN?? if the transmission
corridor is the issue then why cant the central Govt give the entire
power from NLC and other power generated in TN to the state and manage
the other states deficit from their neighbors??
The PM doesnt even seem to respond to CM's request even though she has
requested several times, this surely needs to be taken to the SC with
other such cases.
I wish that the power ministry is taken in control by the CM which can
really bring results and I Hope the power situation is managed by this
year.
The power crisis is not a sudden problem.Tamil nadu is experiencing the same for more than six years and crucial stage has reached as there is wide gap between demand and supply.Let us be optimistic that the position will improve by November end and the Central Government will also help to tide over the crisis.
Yes SARANATHAN,
I too have the same question in mind. When DMK left the deficit was
1500 MW, but after 15 months of AIADMK the defict has become 3500 MW -
4000 MW. So this new govt added the defict by 2000 - 3000 MW.
SO my question is why cant you remove Mr Viswanathan and add 5 or 6 more ministers for this department exclusively with more engineers in team so they can concentrate more on this. Mr Paneer selvam and Mr Vishwanathan in this team will make it even
worse as they haven't done any notable work other than lauding the CM.
OK, we once again trust you. Please let us know the list of new plans
your govt has planned to manage this crisis and when will they start
to reap the benefits? This could be the 5th time this govt has given
false promised on this issue.
Also why cant we multiple the wind power by double and with latest
technology to generate power even with low wind and why not encourage
private players to produce more solar power and bring more thermal and
hydel power to state??
Statistics belie the CM's statements.Politics apart, as a layman, my
single question is how is it that ,in Trichy, where I am residing,it
used to be 2 to 4 hours power cut during the previous DMK regime.We
will grant that they had not done any thing to augment power
supply.But how and why the power cut increased to 8 to 12 hours,
after this Government started ruling?I could understand the same
power cut duration as in the previous regime;but certainly it speaks
of very bad management of power supply now.Day by day it is
worsening.Even the CM's record seems to go awry.When she could add
more than 2000MW in her last rule,why in this 18 months of ruling
there is not even a 5% increase, but a decline of more than 2000 MW?I
suspect some other cause being swept under the carpet.
This is highly irresponsible statement from the Chief Minister, When She came for election campaign, she promised that she will improve the situation within six months. Now she throws the ball into other man's court, this is highly unfair. If anyone carefully reads the statement, they can notice contradictory views within the statement. At one point she says that the previous govt added only 206 MW, but at the end she says due to the completion of some projects the situation will improve, these projects are planned and implemented by previous govt, she just try to take credit for that. This is not an fair policy.
Wow, same old story. We are educated youth, can someone please share
last 10 years electricity related projects and their status when they
left power and what has been done since she came to power??
We want reports and proofs that the issue will be under control in Nov
and solved in 2013.
Why cant double the wind energy and maximize solar power with indian
and foreign investors help??
Why cant we improve and/or construct new dams to improve hydro?
>>However, striking a note of optimism, she said with some of the power generation projects scheduled to go on steam, load-shedding would decrease from next month.
Sir,
It has become fashionable to give this excuse to the suffering masses. The situation of power crisis was not as acute as it was when she took power. She then played the game of opposing the nuclear reactor. If she had used common sense in rectifying basic necessities instead of doling out freebees, Tamilnadu will not be facing this situation. She has no right to blame anyone else but herself for the poor decisions she had made.
With a three pronged strategy of replacing inefficient power loads with energy efficient loads, meticulously utilizing solar power and strengthening existing power plants for efficient functioning, TN can do better in days ahead.
Both the parties (ADMK and DMK) will keep blaming each other, but ultimately only people of TamilNadu are the sufferers.
I am just waiting for Mr.Karunanithi's rejoinder to this vague charge by TN CM.She is the one who opposed the kudankulam atomic power plant and later on wisdom dawned on her.Industries started coming to Tamilnadu during DMK regime .Wind power is seasonal.Hydro power depends on rain.By all accounts nuclear power is least accident prone and people are made to believe otherwise.The US depends upon nuclear power for it's needs.Either borrow or produce by whatever means.How can we sustain productivity when there is no power available for 16 hours.
TN should remember in other states of the South, there is severe shortage of power. Why
should see then get all the power surrendered by Delhi. Most of the TN CM talks illogically.
She was responsible for the delay in commissioning Kudankulam and now she wants all the
Central Power forgetting that there are other states in India
TN has no rivers and hence fights for water with neighbouring states. Now TN does not have
enough power. The best solution is to divide TN into three and hand over each part to the
surrounding states. There will be less barking after this. Alternately the whole of TN can be
handed over to Sri Lanka and they can fight their battles there.
Power projects take a minimum of 48 months from ground breaking in case of green field projects and less than that for project envisaging addition to capacity. TN with no water resources worth the mention, have to heavily depend on coal (domestic or imported), lignite and nuclear power. The hype created by different vested interests for and against nuclear power could have been avoided with deft handling. In this the ruling AIADMK is also to be blamed. Yes, nuclear power is fraught with risks; but coal based plants fare no better. With vast amounts of coal ash to be disposed and the pollution they create over the areas occupied by thermal plants present their own problems. Development comes at a heavy cost. What we should and can do is to aim at minimal risk. We have to promote solar power for remote areas where power cannot be transmitted economically. The problems are huge, but not insurmountable. Political wisdom coupled with proper handling of problems will solve issues.
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