Power cuts snowball into political blame game in TN


Chennai: With many parts of Tamilnadu facing power cuts, a political blame game is being played by the ruling and opposition parties.

Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji blamed a sudden drop in power supply from the Central grid for the unscheduled outage in many parts of the State. The Minister said that about 750 megawatt (MW) of power from the central grid to southern states dropped abruptly on Wednesday night.

PMK founder S Ramadoss alleged that people in various districts in the State suffered power cuts at night and urged the government to take preventive measures.

‘The State Electricity Minister has cited non-availability of 750 MW of power from Central generating stations as the reason for the cuts. This might be true. But, it is the job of the electricity board to be prepared for such unexpected events and ensure uninterrupted power supply,’ he said.

Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan in a statement called upon the state government to make alternative arrangements to the power crisis faced by the people of Tamilnadu.

He said that there is a major shortage of coal in the country and asked the Electricity Minister of Tamilnadu to be prepared to face a shortage of power as the state was depending on private power producers and Central generations.

AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran said without blaming the Centre, the State should take immediate measures to address the issue.