Karuna blames Jaya for power shortage

DMK President M Karunanidhi today alleged Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had not estimated future power requirements of the state and claimed the previous government headed by him had taken efforts to generate nearly 7800 mw during its 2006-11 rule.

"Factoring the future power needs after assuming power in 2006, DMK took efforts to generate 7798 mw of power but after the change of regime, many projects have not come into effect due to no efforts (taken by AIADMK government)," he charged.

In a statement here, he listed out various power generation initiatives during 2006-11 such as the 600 mw Ennore Thermal Power project, which he said was slated to generate electricity in August 2013.Karunanidhi, whose previous government had often faced flak from many including Jayalalithaa for acute powershortage, said demand for electricity had shot up following industrialisation efforts by his earlier government.

"If Jayalalithaa, who was in power from 2001-06, had estimated demand for power in the later years and taken due steps, there would have been no shortage today. People of thestate would not have faced difficulties," he said in an apparent reference to reports of unscheduled load-shedding in some parts of the state.