CHENNAI: Former electricity minister V Senthilbalaji on Tuesday accused the C Joseph Vijay-led govt of failing to anticipate Tamil Nadu’s power demand and plan generation accordingly.He warned that short-term power procurement could push Tangedco into a financial crisis, with its debt rising from Rs 2.4 lakh crore to over Rs 5 lakh crore by the end of the govt’s tenure.The state’s own power generation had fallen from 60-75% to 30-35%, forcing it to buy power from the open market at high prices, he alleged. He demanded a rollback of the reported decision to procure power at Rs 35 per unit.“The govt has spent the past five months cancelling tenders and blaming officials, calling them ‘blacksheep’, instead of assessing power demand and planning ahead,” Senthilbalaji told reporters at Arivalayam.Recalling Vijay’s campaign against the previous DMK govt’s power purchases from the open market, Senthilbalaji questioned the TVK govt’s current procurement policy.During the campaign, electricity minister C T R Nirmalkumar had demanded the resignation of the then govt over power purchases at Rs 20 per unit, he said. “What will the electricity minister say now?” he asked.Senthilbalaji said the previous DMK govt held regular meetings with officials to assess demand and floated tenders in November and December for the peak-demand months, including May. Advance planning helped it bridge supply gaps at lower prices, he said.“Our power generation, which accounted for 60-75% of demand, has fallen to 30-35%. The govt is now buying power from the open market through short-window tenders. This lays the foundation for corruption and irregularities,” he alleged.He also accused Nirmalkumar of corruption, dubbing him “Collection Kumar” and alleging that Rs 15 lakh was being demanded for installing one MW of solar power capacity.Pointing to power cuts during ministers’ programmes, convocation ceremonies and even at the Secretariat, Senthilbalaji said outages had become frequent across the state. People were protesting daily, including in the chief minister’s Perambur constituency, he claimed. “This govt has institutionalised power cuts,” he said.Senthilbalaji said the previous DMK govt had raised power generation to 29,000 million units from 22,000 million units during the AIADMK regime.Despite demand rising by more than 4,300 MW over five years, the govt had ensured adequate supply through better planning, he said, crediting then chief minister M K Stalin’s administration.The situation had now reversed, he alleged, accusing the TVK govt of failing to operate existing facilities at optimum capacity and expedite projects such as Ennore Thermal Power Station’s Stage III and the Udangudi thermal power project.
