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Tamilnadu won’t join UDAY scheme until Centre meets our demands: Minister
MINISTER for Electricity, P Thangamani on Thursday clarified that the State government won’t join the UDAY scheme of the Central government until the demands put forth by Tamil Nadu were met. Replying to the discussion on the demands for grants for his department, he referred to the statement of DMK president M Karunanidhi, raising doubts as to whether Tamil Nadu had joined the UDAY scheme since TNEB officials had held talks with the Centre.
“Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa already made the stand clear and even requested the Prime Minister to make some alterations in the Scheme. She opposed revision of power tariff once in three months as envisaged in the UDAY scheme,” Thangamani said and asserted that Tamil Nadu would not join the scheme unless its demands were met by the Centre.
The revenue deficit of TNEB was brought down to Rs 8,542.12 crore in 2015-16 and is expected to touch Rs 6,374.17 crore this financial year. Due to the incessant efforts to reduce the debt burden, TNEB would start earning profit within three or four years. Soon, Tamil Nadu would get an additional 563 mw from the Phase-II of Kudankulam atomic power project, he noted.
Giving a detailed account on the State’s power scenario, he said the average requirement of power now ranges between 13,500 and 14,000 mw. This would go upto 20,000 mw within the next five years. To meet this demand, three power projects would be implemented at a cost of Rs 34,375 crore. These projects were expected to be commissioned between 2018 and 2020, and steps are being taken to set up projects to generate 12,720 mw. Haydn Fleury Jersey
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