Not being able to answer the questions of the Opposition and the people over the power situation in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK politicians seem to be resorting to cracking jokes to dismiss the issue faced by several lakh people in the state.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu Minister for Power, Electricity and Excise, Natham Vishwanathan, made light of a complaint of power shortage by DMK MLA Conoor Ramachandran in the Assembly. In response to it, the Minister mocked the MLA and said he should put his finger in a power point and feel the shock.
Natham R Vishwanathan, contested the MLA’s claim and said “Hon’ble member does not know the facts and is living in another world. Tamil Nadu has surplus power and there is no question of any load shedding,” adding that “The member should put his fingers in the power point and if there was no power he won’t get a shock.”
According to a recent article in The Hindu, the state currently generates only 13,000 MW of power which is just enough to meet existing demand. The state is tackling the power crisis through purchase agreements with the states and power producers outside Tamil Nadu.
Further, the state power corporation is in immense debt because of the increased capital expenditure on capacity development. The Business Standard reported that overall debt of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board stood at Rs 80,000 crore in 2015 from Rs 40000 crore in 2010-2011.
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