Lanka, power crisis high on Jayas agenda

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is visiting Delhi on Monday evening, is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday morning and take up several issues facing the state.Some of the issues that may come up for discussion between the two leaders include a possible large central package for the state, the poor power situation, problems faced by the textile sector, attacks on the state’s fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and imposition of economic sanctions on Lanka for alleged human rights violations during the war against LTTE.  According to well-informed sources, Jayalalithaa is also expected to address the national media in the Capital after the meeting with the PM. National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, along with Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, met the CM in Chennai before they left for Colombo to hold talks with Lankan authorities.  Last week, Jayalalithaa had requested the PM to allocate an additional 1,000 MW of power to Tamil Nadu from the central pool for about a year. She also asked him to issue instructions to speed up the central power projects coming up in TN.In a letter to Singh, Jayalalithaa had said: “Due to increasing demand and stagnant generation of power, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is resorting to scheduled load-shedding of around 1,500 MW and frequent unscheduled load-shedding.”Additional generation of power in Tamil Nadu may take one or two years, since many new projects are in various stages of construction, she said. ”Even the central power projects such as the Kudankulam Atomic Power Station (2x1000 MW) and Neyveli Thermal Power Station Stage II expansion (2x250 MW), which were expected to commence power generation by the year 2009 are yet to be completed and commissioned, causing serious concern to the state government,” the letter noted. Leaders of Left Parties, which had partnered the AIADMK in the Assembly poll, are likely to call on her during her stay in Delhi.CPI national secretary and Rajya Sabha member D Raja, currently visiting Vijaywada told Express that he would meet Jayalalithaa on Monday evening. Other leaders expected to pay a visit include CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav.