Power crisis resolved, claims Minister

Chennai: Amid the ongoing heated debated over the power position in the state, Minister for Electricity, Prohibition & Excise V Senthilbalaji announced that the shortage faced by the state owing to short supply of 796 MW from the central generating stations (CGS) has been overcomed from Saturday evening.

In a tweet, the minister wrote, “The state faced a power shortage due to unavailability of 796 MW from the CGS.

Following steps taken by the chief minister, we have restored uninterrupted power supply from Saturday evening with appropriate alternative arrangements and increased generation from its own sources.”

Barring Chennai, rural parts of the state have been facing load shedding from one hour to three hours. Sources in Tangedco said that rain in a few districts has helped bring down the power demand in the state along with increased generation in its all thermal power units. “There will be less demand on Sunday when we could shutdown a few thermal units to conserve the coal stock. We are expecting power supply from private generators from Monday to meet the demand deficit,” sources added. The state on Friday met a peak demand of 16,866 MW at 11.30 am with a peak shortage of 125 MW.

Earlier in the day, former chief minister and AIADMK coordinator O Pannneerselvam in a statement said the unchecked power cuts in the state had escalated into a law and order problem and the public have started staging demonstrations and protests seeking uninterrupted power supply.

The AIADMK leader quoting recent media reports said that there were stone pelting events and verbal duel in Tiruvallur and Arani due to power outages.

This is the reality, but the Minister for Electricity fails to understand the ground reality.

The DMK government did not take any precautionary measure in beefing up the coal stock despite knowing that power demand will increase during summer, OPS charged in his statement.

The state government has said that it has floated tenders to acquire coal to meet the shortage, but the question is when will the coal be acquired and power crisis will be resolved.