Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday unveiled a slew of power and infrastructure projects, including a Rs. 7,000-crore underground power station with a capacity of 2,000 MW at Sillahalla in the Nilgiris district. Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, she said objective of unveiling these projects, totally worth around Rs. 20,000 crore, was to restore Tamil Nadu to its position as a power-surplus State.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said the Sillahalla project would be implemented in two phases and it would take eight to ten years for completion.

A farmers' forum is protesting moves of a private tea cultivating company to block a link road through which tea farmers transported their produce.

A demonstration was staged opposite the Collectorate here on Monday, protesting against the blocking of the road by near Kundah in the district the private-run The Thiashola Estate. The protest, by the Nilgiris chapter of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, was inaugurated by CPI (M)'s district secretary, R. Badri.