Tiruvannamalai (Puducherry): V. Vaithilingam, Chief Minister of Puducherry, has urged engineering students to enter the power sector as countries, the world over, are facing a problem of energy security.

While presenting degrees to 613 students at a convocation ceremony of Arunai Engineering College organized here on Friday, Vaithilingam said that young engineering graduates should take up this challenge.

Vaithilingam said, "We are also thinking on how to handle and rectify the power crisis in the place where we live. We face a 30 percent shortage in supply."

"Our state is planning to begin a 2,000-MW power generation project in co-ordination with Gujarat. Tamil Nadu was also aiming to achieve a goal of 35,000 MW in power generation. There are plenty of petroleum resources in the Krishna and Godavari basins and a lot of opportunities for engineering graduates to work in this sector", added Mr. Vaithilingam.