The AIADMK staged a walk-out of the Assembly on Friday, dissatisfied with Minister for Electricity V. Senthil Balaji’s reply to the special call attention motion on the frequent power cuts in the past few days.
Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the AIADMK referred to the disruption in power supply during the past few days in some parts of the State and said the government had not taken steps to keep sufficient coal stocks. Of the five units in the Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station, three could not function because of coal shortage, he said. The disruption caused severe hardships to people.
Congress MLA K. Selvaperunthagai (Sriperumbudur) and PMK MLA G.K. Mani (Pennagaram) also highlighted the need for ensuring the availability of coal at power generating units.
In his reply, Mr. Balaji reiterated that the unexpected drop in supply from the Central grid led to the disruption. Over 750 MW from the Central grid dropped abruptly on Wednesday night, he said.
The Minister said the State was taking steps to ensure coal availability at the power generating units and the Chief Minister had written to the Prime Minister in this regard even on Friday.
A plan was made to meet the demands in April-May and tenders were floated. Four companies submitted bids. Eventually, 4.80 lakh metric tonnes of coal would be imported, the Minister said. The disruption was reported at just 41 places.
Mr. Balaji said disruption was reported even when the AIADMK was in power. The previous AIADMK government did not take steps to ensure domestic supply of coal to the power generating units.
Dissatisfied with the reply, Mr. Palaniswami led his party members out. They eventually returned to take part in the proceedings.
