Chennai:
There will be no more power cuts in Tamil Nadu from June 1, chief minister J Jayalalithaa said today.
"Generation has been enhanced by 2,500 MW in state power plants and deals have been signed for the purchase of 3,800 MW power," Jayalalithaa declared in a statement.
Crippling power cuts lasting for hours have been a major issue for Tamil Nadu in the last six years. Many parts of the state have witnessed power cuts of up to 16 hours.
Tamil Nadu, which requires a total of 12,000 MW, was facing a shortage of 4,000 MW.
In the statement, the Chief Minister also claimed that she was proud "to have made Tamil Nadu power-cut free" in the three years her AIADMK has been in power.
However people in rural Tamilnadu describe Ms Jayalalithaa's no power cut claim exaggerated. Mr Shivakumar, a resident of Tirunelvelli district told NDTV "Even today we had five hour long power cut."
The state government is hopeful that power generation will also be augmented by alternate sources like wind turbines from June; Tamil Nadu is also receiving 400 MW from the first unit of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the opposition DMK had made the power crisis a big poll issue.
Ms Jayalalithaa had hit back at the DMK regime and blamed it for the mess.
Though the power situation became more tolerable during the campaign, once the election got over, many areas had again witnessed unannounced power cuts.