In a letter to the Prime minister on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa asked the Centre to allocate the entire power produced by the central generating stations in Tamil Nadu to the state as an interim measure and to dedicate the entire Koodangulam power to Tamil Nadu.
The request comes at a time when the state has been undergoing a severe power crisis of a magnitude unprecedented in recent memory. While the demand is in the order of 12,000 Mw, supply from all available sources is only about 8,000 Mw, thereby leaving a huge gap of about 4,000 Mw.
“Ever since I assumed office as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 2011, I have been requesting you for allocation of additional power. To our great disappointment, the response from the Government of India to our request has totally been negative,” the chief minister said.
Jayalalithaa, in a letter dated June 6, 2011, has asked the government to allocate 1,000 Mw of power. However, a meagre quantum of only 100 Mw was allocated. “The state government did not receive any reply for the letter written in October 2012 requesting to allocate the power from central generating stations surrendered by the Centre. On the contrary, it has cited transmission constraints virtually negativing our request,” she said.
Therefore, it stands to reason that at least, the entire power generated by central generating stations in Tamil Nadu by Neyveli Lignite Corporation, the Madras atomic power station at Kalpakkam and the joint venture unit between NTPC and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (Tangenco) commissioned recently at Vallur near Chennai totalling 2,830 Mw is allocated to Tamil Nadu where there are no transmission constraints, as an interim arrangement, to meet the huge power deficit and to alleviate the severe hardship faced by the people of Tamil Nadu, till all the new power projects under construction in Tamil Nadu are fully commissioned, the chief minister said in her letter.
She also said that the Tamil government Nadu had gone to ensure the smooth commissioning of the atomic power project at Koodangulam. “In return, I expect the Government of India to dedicate the entire power of 2,000 Mw from this project on successful commissioning, to Tamil Nadu,” she said.
The first two units of 500 Mw each, totalling 1,000 Mw, produced by the central generating station at Simhadri in Andhra Pradesh, constructed and operated by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), has entirely been dedicated to Andhra Pradesh, she pointed out.