PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday challenged State Electricity Minister Thangam Thennarasu to prove his statement that three-phase electricity supply is being given for agricultural purposes continuously for 12-16 hours and it is reaching the last consumer in villages across Tamil Nadu.
He said the Tamil Nadu government must stop creating ‘false perceptions’ that it is doing so well when it comes to generating power and urged the State government to kickstart the power projects that are defunct for 17 years, which could generate 17, 340 MW on ‘war footing’.
In a statement, he said there was no truth whatsoever in the Minister’s statement and added that he was trying to ‘conceal a whole pumpkin inside rice’.
“After seeing Electricity Minister’s statement, I spoke to a number of farmers from the Delta region. They all said that the situation has not changed...and that they are not getting three-phase electricity even for three hours continuously. In majority of the villages in Tamil Nadu, only 150-160V is being supplied due to which they have not been able to operate many electrical appliances,” he said.
The Minister should publish details about electricity supply given to villages and the time period for which the supply was provided. “This data should be cross checked with the farmers in those regions. Is the State government ready to do that? In Chennai, the maximum demand has increased to 4590 MW. Tamil Nadu’s power generation output has not been able to satisfy the power requirements of Chennai city. It is a fact that Tamil Nadu has not become self-sufficient state when it comes to power generation,” he said.
