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Naidu takes power tariff hike issue to the people

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu yesterday asked party politicians and cadres to launch a public campaign explaining the rationale for the steep hike in power tariff in the state.

Naidu addressed an extended meeting of the party, comprising 500 senior functionaries, including ministers, legislators, parliamentarians, politburo and state executive members, district council and municipal chiefs, chairpersons of government corporations and other elected leaders, at the NTR Trust complex, the party headquarters.

The tariff hike and power sector reforms constituted the agenda for the meeting, which lasted more than three hours.

Naidu told party functionaries to explain to the people the necessity for power sector reforms and hike in tariffs. He asked them to convince those with illegal power connections to get them regularised. "You should prepare the people to realise the harsh decisions to bring in reforms for the state's development," he said.

The reforms and hike were inevitable, he said, all over the country. Most states are implementing reforms and they have set up electricity regulatory commissions to facilitate the hikes. "States, including those ruled by the Congress [Maharashtra, Karnataka] and the Communist parties [West Bengal], are pursuing power-sector reforms. Others like Tamil Nadu and Orissa are implementing the reforms. All have also hiked power tariffs recently. Thus, the hike is not confined to Andhra Pradesh," he explained.

The chief minister accused the Congress and Left parties of seeking to take undue advantage of the issue and misleading the people. "These parties are opposing the reforms and raising a hue and cry over the hike only in Andhra Pradesh. You must fan out to the villages, clear the misunderstanding among people, and expose the double standards of the opposition parties," he told the party officials. From 1990-94, the Congress government in the state had increased the tariffs thrice, he pointed out.

He said the Opposition had launched a propaganda campaign to defame the TDP government. These parties are organising dharnas and rasto rokos for political gains. He told the party officials to attend gram sabhas being convened in villages till June 26, to explain to the people the rationale for the tariff hike.

He also wanted party cadres to brief people on measures being taken to improve the efficiency of the power sector and action contemplated against pilferage and theft, by bringing in an ordinance from July 1.

He said transmission and distribution losses, including commercial losses, in the power sector range from 30 to 60 per cent in some places. This needs to be tackled immediately, by launching a drive for regularisation of illegal connections, conversion to metered connections and checking of power pilferage.

He claimed that the tariff hike would not affect the poor people, as their consumption ranged from 35 to 50 units per month. The state government has announced an enhanced subsidy to reduce the burden on domestic consumers. The billing system was changed to telescopic, to give relief to domestic consumers.

Naidu asserted that there would be no rollback of the hike after the moderation announced by his government by absorbing the additional subsidy burden. He turned down the request of some party officials for a review, particularly for certain categories of domestic and agricultural consumers. He said the state government was committed to reform.

Earlier, several party officials, including some parliamentarians and legislators, termed the latest tariff hike a big burden on the people. They said the huge hike, at one stroke, had caused resentment among the people and this was why the opposition was trying to exploit the situation. Some leaders also felt that the timing, ahead of the panchayat polls, was "inappropriate".

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