Power Tariff Hike
SAD-BJP panel may discuss rollback
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 15
The Punjab BJP’s demand for rolling back the hike in power tariff, ordered by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, will now be taken up at the SAD-BJP alliance coordination committee meeting that is likely to be held tomorrow.

BJP general secretary and state in charge for Punjab Balbir Punj is likely to attend the meeting of the coordination committee, according to Industries and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia.

In another development, following stiff opposition from the BJP, the state Cabinet, which was expected to ratify the new tariff order at its meeting scheduled for tomorrow, will not take up the issue for the present.

Meanwhile, the BJP claims that it has got tired of explaining the importance of putting the economy on the right track to its alliance partner, which is not ready to even think of charging even a minimum amount for power supply to the agricultural sector. “If they are ready to take a loan for subsidies, why not more of the same?” a senior leader said, adding that the present loan amount on account of subsidies was Rs 7,650 crore.

The BJP is now demanding that the entire Rs 1,296 crore power hike burden be borne by the government, saying if freebies were okay for one sector, why not for all?

According to sources, BJP legislators are miffed that the core constituency of the BJP, urban domestic consumers, commercial consumers and industrialists, are suffering even as the SAD has agreed to increase the agriculture subsidy to protect its core constituency. The legislators, who met last Friday under the chairmanship of Kalia, have also raised the question of collective responsibility, saying the coalition government could not have differing stands on a single issue.

Meanwhile, a dossier prepared by the party for discussion with its alliance partner states that if agricultural production in Punjab has reached saturation, so has industry. It states that industries in the state are already suffering due to the subsidies given to Himachal as well as other neighbouring states. It also claims that increasing power cuts and a reduction in the industrial load have further affected the profitability of the industrial sector besides causing further losses to the PSEB, which is diverting expensive power earmarked for the industry to the agricultural sector.