The Government of India has said ‘no’ to the plea of Tamil Nadu for increasing the quantum of power allocated to the State from the Central power stations.
Responding to a question raised by Dr V. Maitreyan in the Rajya Sabha, the Ministry noted that between April 2012 and February 2013, the energy and peak shortage of power in Tamil Nadu were 17.4 per cent and 12.3 per cent respectively of the demand.
“The quantum of unallocated power being limited and it being fully allocated at any point of time, the enhancement in allocation of any State/UT is feasible only by way of equivalent reduction in the allocation of other State(s) / UT(s). As the requests for additional allocation from the Central stations are received from various States including Tamil Nadu facing power shortages, it is not feasible to allocate additional power to Tamil Nadu without equivalent reduction in allocation of other States who too are facing energy and peak shortages especially Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala,” the Ministry said.
It also noted that the peak shortage in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were 19.2 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively, “which is more than Tamil Nadu.” The Ministry also noted that before the Government of India could allocate the surplus power surrendered by Delhi, a suit was filed by Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court for reallocation of the entire power surrendered by Delhi. “As the matter is sub-judice, reallocation of the surplus power of Delhi to other States is not possible at this stage,” the Ministry said. It, however, noted that the situation in Tamil Nadu would improve in the coming months as several plants have been commissioned, or will be commissioned soon. These include State-owned Mettur Extension Unit-1 (600 MW), North-Chennai Extension Unit-2 (600 MW) and Bhawani Kattalai-III Unit-1 (15 MW), and the private sector-owned Tuticorin Unit-1 (150 MW).
Further, Tamil Nadu would also benefit from Central Generating Stations of NTPC Vallur TPP Phase-I Unit-2 (500 MW) commissioned on February 28, the Ministry said.