TN seeks Rs 1,200 cr central assistance to bring down power line loss

The Tamil Nadu government has sought from the Union power ministry an assistance of Rs 1,200 crore to bring down the average "transmission and commercial loss" in power lines, state Electricity Minister P Thangamani said here on Monday.

Talking to mediapersons after meeting Union Minister of State for Power R P Singh, he said Tamil Nadu has brought down the line loss to 14 per cent through various measures.

To bring it down further, a project has been initiated for fixing meters in distribution transformers.

"A total of 4 lakh such transformer meters are required throughout the state, and a request for release of Rs 1,200 crore to Tamil Nadu was made to Singh in this regard", Thangamani said.

The Tamil Nadu government also requested the Union power ministry to release the state's entire quota of 6,000 MW per day from the central pool to help it meet the anticipated increased demand during the upcoming summer season, he said.

Presently, Tamil Nadu gets only 4,000 MW from the central quota, he said.

To a question, Thangamani said to enable accurate calculation of power consumption, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) has planned, as a pilot project, to install 1.4 lakh smart meters in Chennai.

Depending on the project's success, other parts of the state will be covered, he said.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar, who was honoured at a function here for bringing down the number of road accidents and fatalities in 2018, said the government is planning to rework the penalties levied under the newly amended Motor Vehicles Act, which came into force from September 1, 2019.

To a question, he said the number of violations under the mandatory helmet rule has come down due to strict enforcement of the law.