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Centre hopeful of convincing Jaya on power bill

The Union government was optimistic that it would be able to convince All India Anna DMK chief J Jayalalitha on the proposed power bill, and that her party would support it.

While remaining non-committal whether the bill would be tabled in the budget session of Parliament, Pramod Mahajan, political advisor to the prime minister, said, ''We value the AIADMK as our major ally, and things could be sorted out through mutual consultations.''

He recalled that in the coordination committee meeting, Jayalalitha had objections on one or two clauses of the power Ordinance, and she had been assured that the relevant amendments would be included in the proposed bill before it was tabled.

He did not specify the objections raised by the AIADMK leader.

Mahajan said the power ordinance had been issued to save the state electricity boards, a majority of which were facing huge losses due to concessional tariff offered by the state governments to some sections of the society. The electricity boards had accumulated debts to the tune of about Rs 100 billion, he said.

Because of the non-viability of these boards, they could not approach financial institutions, including the World Bank, for loans for new projects. The private sector was not investing in power projects and they wanted counter security by the state governments or the Union government before undertaking it.

The ordinance, he said, seeks to make it obligatory on the part of the state governments to compensate the losses incurred by the electricity boards due to such concessions in tariff.

''We are ready to discuss the issue with Jayalalitha,'' he added.

In reply to a question, Mahajan denied that any other leader had raised any objection regarding the ordinance in the coordination committee meeting.

UNI

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