State electricity minister Natham R. Viswanathan on Tuesday said the state was facing power shortage as it had been deprived of its due share of power from the central generating station.
According to the minister, the supply from the central station was about 1,070 MW (as against state’s share of 2,481 MW) on Tuesday morning peak.
“It poses a great challenge in meeting the demand, in spite of the concerted effort taken by the state government and Tangedco, to augment the installed capacity in the state,” he said after releasing a handbook on Electricity Safety, Prevention of Electricity Theft and Electricity Conservation here as part of the Electricity Awareness Week celebrations.
Mr Viswanathan said 90 per cent of the electrical accidents happen due to lack of awareness among the public on electrical safety.
“As human life is very precious every necessary action has to be adhered, to handle electricity safely,” he said.
Pointing out that several consumers indulge in theft of electricity unknowingly, like using the electricity for the purpose for which it is not intended to, he said, “As theft of electricity is a punishable offence, the public should be aware of the rules and take necessary steps to prevent and avoid electricity theft.”
Urging the consumers to conserve the energy, the minister said, “Though generation of electricity is a very complex mechanism, still every consumer can be deemed to generate electricity by way of avoiding wastage of electricity, as every unit saved is equivalent to unit generated.”
Energy department secretary Ramesh Kumar Khanna, Tangedco chairman Rajeev Ranjan, Tangedco, IG (Vigilance) Seema Agarwal and N. Sankar, director (generation), Tangedco also spoke.