00:00Let's move on and talk about an issue that's led to a lot of anger on the streets of Tamil
00:05Nadu,
00:05especially in Chennai, where there have been a lot more frequent power cuts in the last few months.
00:11What did it prompt?
00:12Chief Minister Vijay today visited the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board,
00:16the TNEB headquarters in Anasalai of Chennai.
00:19And this is amid mounting complaints of unannounced electricity cuts across the state,
00:23heatwave driving up demand.
00:25The TVK government somehow doesn't have the answer to how to fix this problem.
00:30Outages have been reported in Chennai, Trichy, Tirnaveli, other districts.
00:34You see it on social media as well.
00:35Residents affected by these cuts have blocked roads.
00:38They've protested outside electricity offices, demanding that the supply be restored.
00:42Now, amid this, Chief Minister Vijay conducted this particular inspection,
00:47clearly sending out a message that the government also wants to take up this particular issue.
00:52And while we've broken down for you, there's several causes.
00:55The government too has said that right now to fix the mess in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board,
01:01it could take some time.
01:05See, CM did a detailed review on current demand, power demand for the state,
01:10and what are the employees' level demand,
01:12and on the distribution sectors, what are the challenges faced by the TNEB.
01:16Because distribution, there are a lot of challenges,
01:18because at present, in Tamil Nadu, we are in shortage of around 600 plus substations,
01:23which is an immediate requirement.
01:24We have around 4,000,000 transformers available in Tamil Nadu,
01:27out of which, more than 40,000 transformers are more than 25 years old transformers.
01:33So, we need to change these transformers,
01:35because all these transformers are installed 25 years back.
01:38And due to LNO, we are expecting more demand in the next eight months.
01:43Next July, August, we are expecting more demand when compared to the normal forecasting.
01:48So, based on that, the CM has asked us to plan to that.
01:52And in addition, all these distribution systems need to be revamped.
01:56Power cuts are intense all across the state,
02:00especially in the night times, even in the city of Chennai, the capital,
02:05people are being made to come to the roads and protest against the power cuts.
02:09The government is right now buying power at the peak hours at exorbitant prices.
02:15The EB minister should come out clean and give a white paper on what price
02:19the government today is buying the power at,
02:22and why are you not able to meet the demand?
02:24Why did you, in a hasty manner, cancel several licenses being given to solar power operators
02:29and wind power operators during the previous regime?
02:31All of it was cancelled once it became to power.
02:33So, what alternate measure have you taken to ensure that the power necessities of the state are being met?
02:38And why are you paying excess money to buy power at the peak hours?
