Senthil Balaji opens constituency office in Coimbatore South, targets govt over power cuts and law and order

COIMBATORE: Former minister and Coimbatore South MLA V Senthil Balaji on Thursday inaugurated his constituency office and accused the state govt of failing to address recurring power cuts. He alleged that the electricity minister had not convened a comprehensive review meeting with officials to streamline supply.Balaji said staff had been appointed and the office would function as a grievance redressal centre to receive petitions and pursue solutions. He said his voter outreach programme would conclude on Thursday, after which he would visit wards to collect public demands and follow up on pending works.Responding to questions on whether demands could be met without being in power, Balaji said he was confident of delivering outcomes, citing civic works worth Rs 8,700 crore executed in Coimbatore over the past five years, including roads, underground drainage and drinking water schemes. He claimed that 1,706 km of roads were laid and said remaining works would be taken up.On the electricity board’s missing hard disk issue and the minister’s claim of being threatened, Balaji said if a minister could be threatened, public safety and law and order needed scrutiny.He said power supply had been uninterrupted during the DMK regime with round-the-clock staffing. He said the present administration lacked administrative grip and was “creating narratives” instead of fixing outages. He said the govt should act swiftly on any wrongdoing.He wondered how many of the 10 TVK candidates in Coimbatore had met voters to secure votes. “TVK relies on reels over real governance, and people are realising it,” he said.EOM