With Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) crossing swords over the power outage in Chennai during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit on Sunday, Electricity, Excise and Prohibition Minister V Senthilbalaji told reporters in Coimbatore on Monday that the incident “was accidental” and it occurred due to an issue at a substation.
“The outage was accidental. The issue was identified in the substation and resolved within 40 minutes. This must not be politicised... The issues raised by BJP will not gain importance in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
The Minister was here to take part in a groundbreaking ceremony for eight projects worth ₹ 37.04 crore.
The work to repair and lay 2,510 km of roads under the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Project (TURIP) along Dr. Radhakrishnan Road and 11 roads under Central Zone Ward No. 68 at a cost of ₹180 lakh was also a part of the eight projects.
Countering Pattali Makkal Katchi leader Anbumani Ramadoss’s claim that the State was losing revenue due to value-added tax and excise duty evasions, Mr. Senthilbalaji said, “The total sales in the Tasmac outlets in the last two years were only ₹83,000 crore, but Mr. Anbumani alleged tax evasion to the tune of ₹2 lakh crore... He must check the sales during AIADMK] their ally’s regime to see if the numbers have decreased in the past two years compared to the earlier years.”
On the Income Tax Department searches recently carried out at various premises in Karur and other districts linked to his acquaintances, Mr. Senthilbalaji stated, “The searches were not held on my premises... Those whose premises were searched cooperated well with the tax officials and are ready to share additional documents too if need be.”
