Power pangs for Manpreet
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 7
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal today said he was “sad over the decision with regard to the paying of the enhanced power tariff from the state treasury”.He said,“ I don’t know how it will be implemented”.

Bowing to pressure built by the BJP, the Badal government announced today to off-set the enhanced power tariff for the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. Whereas the revised tariff for the domestic sector would be paid for the whole fiscal year (April 1, 2009, to March 31,2010) from the state treasury to the PSEB, in the case of the commercial and industrial sectors, the state would pay the revised tariff of six months.

Troubled by the poor fiscal health of the state, Manpreet had earlier several times made his views known on the subsidies given to the farm and other sectors. He had been arguing that at this stage, the state was not in a position to give subsidies and these required to be rationalised keeping in the mind the fiscal health of the state. He had been saying that the some crucial sectors were facing a paucity of funds owing to the subsidy factor.