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• Three days after chief minister J Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the power crisis in Tamil Nadu and the "indescribable anguish" that this has caused in the state, electricity minister Natham R Viswanathan on Monday said the Centre has not allotted financial assistance to the state to promote renewable energy generation."The state is taking measures to promote renewable energy, but it needs financial help from the Centre," the minister said at RENERGY 2012, a two-day international conference and expo on renewable energy. "The Centre announced last year that 200MW would be generated under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Tamil Nadu was asked to generate only 7MW of the target. This year, the government has announced generation of 1,000MW, but we have been asked to generate only 22 MW."

• Viswanathan said that though Tamil Nadu has potential for solar energy, the Union government had allocated it a meagre share of the project outlay. He also asked the Centre to encourage investors to set up more solar plants in the state.The minister said the state will bring out a detailed solar energy policy "either before or during the budget session", adding, "This will help us generate at least 3,000MW by 2015-2016.Viswanathan said power cuts in the state will be reduced in a phased manner from June. "By 2013-2014, load shedding will be stopped completely and by 2014-2015, we will be a power surplus state. The government is taking necessary steps to mitigate the power problem," he said. Speaking at the conference, secretary, ministry of new and renewable energy, G B Pradhan, rebutted the minister's allegations that there had been disparities in financing between states and said the Centre had given enough funds to Tamil Nadu.

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