Anbumani urges Centre to retain power supply to Tamil Nadu

Chennai: PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday urged the Centre not to discontinue the priority-based electricity supply to Tamil Nadu from central power generation stations. He was referring to a recent circular issued by the central government to all state electricity boards, stating that the practice of allocating a majority share of power generated at Centre-owned thermal and nuclear power plants to host states would be discontinued.

Anbumani, in a statement, said the Centre has decided that the electricity generated at these plants will be sold through a competitive bidding process for price determination.

"This decision cannot be accepted as it will not only severely impact the ability to meet the power requirements of the states but also infringes upon their rights," he claimed.

Noting that no state in the country has achieved self-sufficiency in electricity generation, the PMK leader alleged that Tamil Nadu's situation is particularly "dire".

"If central power generation stations in Tamil Nadu were to discontinue electricity supply at lower rates and instead determine prices through a competitive bidding process, it would necessitate purchasing electricity at higher costs," he said.

Alleging that the TANGEDCO, which is already incurring heavy losses due to the administrative mismanagement of the DMK government, would be compelled to face even greater financial strain, he said, "to offset this, electricity tariffs would become inevitable and the people of Tamil Nadu cannot withstand yet another hike in electricity charges."