2.38L tonnes of coal missing: TN Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji
Chennai: Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji’s allegation of 2,38,000 tonnes of coal, worth Rs 85 crore, missing from the warehouses of the North Chennai Thermal Power Station and the hint of action against those responsible for it is the latest of the threats being faced by former AIADMK Ministers.
Senthil Balaji, who inspected the power plant at Ennore on Friday, told the media that efforts were on to run all power stations to full capacity. He accused the previous government of not operating the plants fully with a view to purchasing electricity from private agencies.
Stating that the power stations that ran to 85 per capacity in 2008 were now operated to only 58 per cent capacity, the Minister said that an audit of the coal stocks by a three member committee had revealed that 2,38,000 tonnes had gone missing as of March 31, 2021.
The charge is seen as a direct attempt to target former Electricity Minister P Thangamani, who is identified as one of the top leaders of the AIADMK. Other leaders like S P Velumani and M R Vijayabaskar have already faced raids conducted by the DVAC sleuths and some other leaders are feeling threatened by specific actions initiated by the government.
The bid to reopen the Kodanad murder case has been openly stated as a move aimed at implicating former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in the case, an AIADMK delegation that met Governor Banwarilal Purohit with a memorandum has already alleged.
The ordering of a technical inspection to ascertain the quality of all new buildings constructed during the AIADMK regime and also the reported suspension of two engineers is seen as the first step towards pointing fingers at former Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who was in charge of housing and slum clearance board.
State Minister for Rural Industries T M Anbarasan lashing out at the poor quality construction of the slum clearance board tenements at Pulianthope in Chennai in the State Assembly on Thursday was apparently a harbinger to a crackdown, which has send shivers down the spine of the AIADMK leadership.
It was the fear of a witch hunt by the new government that sent the AIADMK top brass scampering to New Delhi and calling on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking their help to rein in the State government, it was rumoured.
But with the government continuing with its threat of action against those found guilty of various irregularities in governance, the AIADMK leaders are now running for cover. The Kodanad case, the AIADMK leaders fear, is being investigated again only with a view to implicating Palaniswami.
Similarly, the open charge in the State Assembly that new tenements were unfit for human habitation is presumed to be aimed at besmirching the name of Panneerselvam in particular and the AIADMK in general.
