''Nargis'' attracts members attention

Chennai, Apr 30 (UNI) ''Nargis,'' the cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal had its impact in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, even before crossing the coast.

The otherwise dull proceedings, turned lively when Mr P K Sekar Babu, raising a point of order, wanted to know why this cyclonic storm was named as ''Nargis,'' after the former Hindi actress, plunging the house into laughter.

Amid laughter, he wanted to know who gave names to cyclones and wondered whether the cyclonic storm triggered wind and it was useful to generate power through wind energy.

Responding to this, Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy said the names for cyclonic storms were given by the weather office.

''We started getting wind blowing at a speed of 55 kmph and using this wind, 1,000 MW of power is being generated daily,'' Mr Veerasamy said.

UNI WS DS RL ND1656