Fresh supply of coal to reach by Sept 25: Govt

“Coal from Paradip Port in Odisha would reach Thoothukudi Port. Already, there is a stock of 1.02 lakh metric tonnes in Thoothukudi Thermal Power Plant (TTPS),” Thangamani said after visiting the TTPS.  

Earlier, DMK president MK Stalin had levelled corruption charges against Thangamani and on Thursday, a letter written by a Tangedco official was released by Stalin citing it as proof for corruption in purchase of wind power. 

However, Thangamani dismissed the charges claiming that the letter had no evidence to prove corruption in wind power purchase. “I too have the letter and it was nowhere mentioned that there was corruption in purchase of wind energy. Actually, it was a thermal power plant which sold the power of Tangedco to two private companies and collected amount as if they produced the power,” said Thangamani. He said the State has started to receive sufficient coal from the Centre. “In the last three days, the State received 16 racks of coal from the Centre and the stock has increased to six days in TTPS. However, the share of the central government had been reduced from 6,152 MW to 3,300 MW,” he said.

When asked why power shutdown was announced for two weeks in Palayamkottai if there was no shortage of coal, Thangamani said the carrying capacity of the Palayamkottai power station was not sufficient and so the Tangedco had decided to replace the cables. “The existing cables could carry only 50 MW of power while the need was 84 MW. To add more carrying capacity, the shutdown was announced but it was wrongly assumed by people and the Opposition parties as coal shortage. The work had been stopped now,” Thangamani said. 

On the protest by fishermen against the proposed coal jetty near Tiruchendur, he said to transport coal, jetties are required and the government had assured that the livelihood of fishermen would not be hit.

DMK president and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly MK Stalin on Friday said he would move the court if Electricity Minister P Thangmani fails to file a case against him in one week over allegations of irregularities in wind power purchase.

The DMK leader’s statement came after Thangamani dismissed Stalin’s allegations of corruption in the procurement of electricity from windmills.

Stating that he had alleged irregularities in procurement of wind power by the government, Stalin said “the minister, instead of giving proper explanations to the allegations, is levelling baseless charges against me and wanted to file case against us”. 

Stalin had circulated a purported audit note of Tangedco Tirunelveli region that states about Rs 9.17 crore was collected from a consumer for bogus energy allotment made without generation.

On the minister’s claim that he would file a case against Stalin if the latter did not prove the charges, Stalin said he had released the evidence and urged the government to order an investigation into it. Referring to the steps taken by the DMK following which the court ordered a CBI probe into the multi-crore gutkha scam, the DMK chief said likewise he would move the court against Thangamani if he did not file a case in a week. 

“I will wait for one week. If he (Thangamani) does not file a case against me for levelling charges on wind power, I will move the court, like how we did in the gutkha scam, which is now being probed by the CBI and find a solution,” the DMK leader said.