Most states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal, have furnished plans before a power ministry panel to turn around their state electricity boards (SEBs) over the next four years.
As per the submissions made by 15 states before the Deepak Parekh committee, set up by the Centre to draw a roadmap for financing the reforms programme of states, 12 states have projected cash profits by 2006-07. Maharashtra and Haryana have projected cash profits for the current financial year itself.
The committee met last Friday to review the projections made by the states to turn around their electricity boards. Even as the states had furnished data showing a decline in losses every year and a subsequent turnaround of the SEBs by 2006-07, none of them had provided any "credible reforms plan", government officials involved in the exercise said.
The panel has, however, asked the states to get the data vetted by state regulators or any independent agency, which can delve into the authenticity of the information.
The Deepak Parekh committee would be submitting its final report, complete with specific turnaround models for the 15 states, over the next couple of weeks, officials said.
As per the data submitted before the committee, three states, including Kerala and Mizoram, have failed to show a turnaround by 2006-07, even as they have projected a decline in losses over the four-year period.
The committee has favoured the privatisation model of power distribution in Delhi for the other states as well.
According to officials, the Delhi model, where the state government provided financial assistance to the new distribution entities for managing the transition, is one of the most feasible in the present scenario.
