Meanwhile, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has agreed to consider Tamil Nadu's demand that ``indirect hurdles'' in the way of providing free power supply to farmers -- in the Bill to replace the power ordinance -- be removed. The Bill would be brought before the Lok Sabha, the Chief Minister said today. The Government would convene an all-party meeting to consider the ordinance after the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Minister said.

He said the Cabinet had formalised a captive power generation policy, under which the electricity board would purchase power from captive units at Rs 2.10 per unit. The price would be hiked by five per cent per annum, he said, adding that following this, poweravailability to the State grid would go up by 200 mw.

The Chief Minister also said that the State would oppose the reduction of Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu in the name of delimitation. On the nuclear issue, the Chief Minister told a Press conference here that ``the entire country should rise as one and face sanctions.'' A DMK delegation had called on the Prime Minister on Friday. The Chief Minister was not very forthcoming about whether the delegation had discussed the nuclear issue with Vajpayee.

Did the Prime Minister tell them about the need to conduct the tests at this juncture? Karunanidhi only said: ``The Prime Minister has already announced that he would be making a statement in Parliament on this issue.'' The Chief Minister also said that the Cabinet had deliberated on the draft Bill to control terrorism in Tamil Nadu. The Bill would be introduced during the current Assembly session, he said.

The Madras HC had not yet cleared the State's proposal to set up special courts for the trial of theaccused in the Coimbatore bomb blasts, he said. On the raising of the retirement age, Karunanidhi indicated that the State might not raise the retirement age of Government staffers to 60, as done by the Centre.