Governor to personally look into load shedding problem

NAGPUR, OCT 1: Expressing concern at the serious crisis being faced by the industrialists of Vidarbha region on account of the load-sheddi...

NAGPUR, OCT 1: Expressing concern at the serious crisis being faced by the industrialists of Vidarbha region on account of the load-shedding being resorted to by the MSEB, Maharashtra Governor Dr P C Alexander promised to look into the matter personally.

Participating in an interaction meeting with the members of the Vidarbha Industrial Association (VIA) recently, the Governor said it was difficult to imagine that a region like Vidarbha which produced more than 60 per cent of the total power generated in the State had to face such a grim power situation. Alexander promised to take up the matter with the highest authorities in the State to effectively resolve the current power crisis.

The Governor, however, appealed to the industrialists to bear with many other seemingly-difficult situations. The country had taken giant strides and progressed a great deal in the last decade as a result of liberalisation. If this momentum continued, India would emerge among the six top industrial powers of the world in the next fifteen years, he said.

Currently, the Indian economy was facing many formidable challenges. But they would disappear soon, Alexander said.

The Governor praised former finance minister Manmohan Singh, for initiating the process of economic liberalisation in the country, thus saving it from a possible financial disaster.

Describing Singh as one of the best finance ministers the country had ever had, he said the situation in the country before the opening up of the economy had become so grim that India was left with just two weeks of foreign exchange in its reserves. From such a desperate situation, the country has had such a change of fortune that it now has a foreign exchange reserve of over $38 billion.

The socialistic pattern of the economy was the need of the hour after India gained independence, the Governor said, adding that the system was based on a closed economy which provided total protection to the producers. There was no urge to go in for quality production. Quality of goods used to be shoddy and exports were almost nil.

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Later, in the absence of any economic reforms, the country began to head for a crisis. The process of liberalisation, however, in a very short time gave the economy an absolutely new direction as a result of which the country is now well on the path to progress and prosperity, he opined.

Alexander called upon the universities and educational centres to produce quality students. “Third-rate universities producing fourth-rate students cannot contribute anything to the progress and welfare of the nation,” he said. “Dreams of the people of India emerging as a world leader will dissipate.”

Alexander also appealed for a better industry-institute interaction.

Earlier, in his introductory remarks, VIA president Mohan Agarwal apprised the Governor of the severe power crisis being faced by the industrialists in Vidarbha. Daily load shedding has crippled the industries and is causing immense problems to the people of the region, he said.

Agrawal further said, labour laws are a major impediment in the progress of Vidarbha. When the Butibori industrial estate was launched a few years back, it had been touted as the biggest industrial estate in the State. Labour problems, however, dogged it from the very beginning, hampering the industrial growth of the region, Agarwal observed.