TN govt seeks Rs 1,680cr aid from Centre

The Tamil Nadu government has sought an assistance of Rs 1,680 crore from the central government to deal with the failure of the south-west monsoon in 2004 and the drought situation faced by the state during the last year and 2002-03.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, chief minister J Jayalalithaa has also urged that the coal supplies to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) be stepped up.

The drought assistance sought from the Centre includes Rs 352.77 crore towards input subsidy for sowing to the farmers affected by drought in 2003-04, Rs 49.32 crore for input subsidy to the farmers in respect of area unsown in kharif 2004-05, Rs 578.14 crore as waiver offered on the interest over due on co-operative loans and around Rs 32.04 crore as relief for the coconut farmers.

The other cash assistance sought is Rs105 crore for employment generation initiatives to benefit the affected farmers and agricultural labourers, an assistance of Rs 500 crore to Metrowater to maintain water supply to Chennai city and the provision of drinking water to districts estimated to be around Rs 64.78 crore.

A separate memorandum was submitted to the Centre by the Tamil Nadu government on February 1 this year, requesting Rs 700 crore to tackle the acute drinking water scarcity in Chennai city.

The Government of India sanctioned Rs 292.95 crore and 3.04 lakh tonne of rice under the food-for-work programme. The state has fully utilised the funds for the drought relief operations relating to the year 2003-04.

In her letter, Jayalalithaa also touched upon the inadequacy of coal supplies from the coal PSUs to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.

The reduced supply of coal from the coal companies has resulted in the stock drastically coming down to six days' requirements at the thermal power stations.

The serious decline in the supply of coal has led to a looming stockout situation in thermal stations, which cater to the base load in the Tamil Nadu grid. The chief minister pointed to the gravity of the situation that would arise if the thermal stations were shut down for want of coal.

The four thermal stations of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board with a total capacity of 2,970 mw should have a normal stock of 21 days' requirement of coal.

As the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has been procuring the coal by a long rail-cum-sea-cum-rail link, at least a stock of 21 days' requirement of coal has to be maintained in each thermal stations.

As against the normal requirement of 14.5 lakh tonnes of coal each month, the supply came down to 10.31 lakh tonne in July and further fell to 8.20 lakh tonne during this month. The chief minister urged that the allotment and supply of coal be raised to 14.5 lakh tonne per month.