Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Talk of priorities. Maharashtra faces a power deficit of an estimated 3,200 MW — and that is the state government’s own estimate. Mumbai now experiences unprecedented power cuts; several cities in the state find themselves without electricity for long hours; farmers in Nasik recently stormed the offices of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board enraged over the fact that they could no longer use their pumps to save their crops. But Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s ministers are too busy hounding bar girls to do anything about it. Or is it the case that they are chasing these hapless women precisely because they wish the spotlight to shift from their own failures of governance and general incompetence?
The state government’s failures on the power front are a legion. For one, it has failed to anticipate and plan for the sharply rising demand for power. It has only recently got around to signing some deals with private firms for building power plants. It has failed to prevent power thefts. The Democratic Front government had once promised to reduce theft from the current levels of 39 per cent by 3 per cent a year, yet it has only managed a reduction of less than one per cent so far. It has failed to get the Dabhol power plant — which would have gone a long way in solving the present crisis — back on the rails. It has failed to corporatise the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), which has always been at the heart of the issue. Its inability to address these issues in a cogent manner has resulted in the present crisis, where planned outages in rural Maharashtra are now nine hours in duration and where the pressure caused by angry public responses to such loadshedding has forced the MSEB to now seriously consider rationing power to Mumbai.
In fact power cuts have already been implemented in Mumbai’s suburbs which, ironically, is the very area that generates money for the MSEB. There is now talk of cutting down power consumption in the metropolis by disallowing neon lighting and regulating the use of air-conditioners and lifts. Forget Shanghai, at this rate Mumbai may soon become a Chiplun. Thus do the dreams of making Mumbai the financial hub of the East bite the dust. India’s corporate capital may soon resemble Kolkata in the days of its decline. Today, while the West Bengal government is busy refurbishing Kolkata’s infrastructure, Mumbai’s government is too obsessed with the morals of its citizens to worry about the bright lights of progress.
