Polls make MP CM switch off power reforms

All stakeholders have finally realised: there can be no free lunch in the power sector any longer.’’ This was the conclusion of th...

All stakeholders have finally realised: there can be no free lunch in the power sector any longer.’’ This was the conclusion of the government of Madhya Pradesh’s white paper on the power sector in June 2003 released by Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

Today the same Digvijay in an election-eve decision that puts a question mark on the process of power reforms announced that power bills of farmers running motors of 5 HP or less will be waived for the three-year period from January 2001 to December 2003.

The cost, a staggering Rs 800 crore, will be borne by the government. The bills already paid by farmers will be treated as advance for bills due after December 2003. In addition, the state government has also decided to waive the bills of below poverty line single point consumers of all sections, which totals to an additional 18 lakh potential voters.

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The sop is clearly aimed at the rural constituency most aggrieved by the power crisis. It’s such a policy of free power to farmers that has been identified as one of the root causes of the power crisis in the state. The same June 2003 government white paper observes: ‘‘The government also recognises that supply of free power in 1994 led to an unexpected surge of demand in the state.”

Digvijay claimed this was being done given the drought situation for the past three years. What he did not say was that by June, the government has provided a Rs 856-crore subsidy on power.