Haryana elections: Govt's 'power play' to woo voters

Between 2001 and 2012, cost of power increased by 300%, while rates were revised by 50-60%

While the political parties in Haryana are gearing up for the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections (expected in October 2014), the ruling Congress government in the state is leaving no stone unturned to appease the voters.

The state power utilities recently announced to keep the power tariff unchanged during the financial year 2014-15. A senior official in the state power utilities informed that most of the states had proposed a tariff revision of 10 to 50 per cent in 2014-15, but the consumers in Haryana would get a relaxation.

Between 2001 and 2012, cost of power increased by 300 per cent, while power rates during the same period were revised by 50 to 60 per cent. This created a huge gap between the average revenue realised (ARR) and the average cost of supply (ACS) to the consumers. Also, the short-term liabilities of the state discom as on March 31, 2012, stood at Rs 18,000 crore.

While the ailing power utilities are working to avail of the bailout package from the central government, such populist decisions are likely to undermine the growth of the state’s economy.

A senior official informed that the state had a transmission and distribution loss of about 27 per cent, whereas it was 15 to 18 per cent in Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan.

The state government also accepted the long-pending demand of the the rice millers to allow relaxation in the percentage of damaged grains up to four per cent against the existing limit of three per cent in custom milled raw rice meant to be supplied for the public distribution system. According to sources, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda made utmost efforts and took up the matter with the officials in the Union food ministry to resolve the issue.

It has been learnt that the administration at the sub-division and tehsil level has also become quite pro-active to the problems of the common man in the past few days.

“Now, there is a sudden change in the attitude of government functionaries”, observes Mohinder Lal of Raipur Rani in Panchkula. The emergence of a new political outfit in the form of Aam Aadmi Party and the launch of its election campaign has started yielding results. The voice of the common man that remained unheard for past many years is now getting some response.