TN will soon be free from power cuts, says Jaya

Tamil Nadu will soon be absolutely free from power cuts as a result of a host of measures being pursued by the government, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said today.

In her reply to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address in the assembly, Jayalalithaa detailed the measures being undertaken to address the power situation.

"Power production in the state achieved a new milestone when 12,799 MW was generated on January 29 last year, up from the 8000 MW to 9000 MW range," she said.

Procurement contracts have been to get 3330 MW power for 15 years. During 2014-15, the state will be getting 1098 MW power from private power producers in Tuticorin and Cuddalore districts. Also, 2158 MW power would be received from private power stations in Chattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, she said.

On education and sanitation sectors, she said more focus should be on developing human resources to ensure the state's progress. "That is why I am giving importance to education and sanitation which will be useful for future generations."

Listing many measures being pursued by her regime in the education front like incentives to students of class, 10 and 12, she explained how her government had brought services like caste, nativity and revenue certificates to the students' directly through the school principal.

English medium classes have been started in as many as 6,594 schools besides spoken English classes, to provide an opportunity to children to learn English in government schools.

During the current fiscal, Rs.16,965 Cr has been earmarked for school education. The pass percentage has increased to 89 (in 2011, 85.3 per cent) and 88.1 (in 2011, 85.8 per cent) in classes 10 and 12 respectively in 2013, she said.