From july load-shedding reduced to 2 hours a day

CHENNAI: Promising that the AIADMK government would take steps to augment the installed capacity of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) by 10,000 MW in the next five years, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday announced that from July load shedding would be reduced from three to two hours a day.Participating in a discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the State Assembly, Jayalalithaa said the natural gas cycle power stations at Vazhuthur and Kuttalam stopped generation from January 2010 following breakdown of equipment. The DMK government failed to repair them till the end of its term. But, the AIADMK government has taken steps and both plants are generating power.Similarly, the DMK government had put on a backburner the Cuddalore Power company’s agreement to set up a 1,320MW plant signed on September 28, 2006, she said. Due to mismanagement and lack of coordination with the coal supplying companies, coal scarcity had occurred and power generation was affected in plants at Tuticorin, Mettur, North Chennai and Ennore, she added.Strongly denying the DMK’s charge that the power shortage in Tamil Nadu was caused by the previous AIADMK government’s failure to implement new power projects, Jayalalithaa gave a detailed account of the various projects initiated during her previous tenures as chief minister. However, the DMK government had failed to follow-up on these projects leading to a severe power shortage in Tamil Nadu.In 2006, the central government had decided to set up two ultra mega power projects in Tamil Nadu. Due to the DMK government’s delay in selecting the place for setting up these projects, three years had lapsed. Only on March 31, 2008, had the DMK regime given its approval for setting up a mega project at Cheyyur and another project is yet to be approved.