PSEB in spot over free power
Umesh Dewan
Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 4
Delay in releasing the instalments of the subsidy for free power to farmers and domestic consumers under SC and BPL categories by the state government has put the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in a tight spot.

According to senior PSEB officials, since the board is facing severe financial crunch, the government should clear the pending subsidy amounting to Rs 1,100 crore at the earliest. Presently, the board has not got any funds from the government for the past three months.

A month back, government had assured the board that pending subsidy amount would be cleared in two instalments, but failed to keep its promise and didn’t clear the pending subsidy due to which the board is now facing financial crisis.

Sources in the board said in case government failed to pay the pending instalments, it would be very difficult to pay the salaries to the employees.

Though latest tariff orders of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) mentioned that the state should pay an advance monthly subsidy of Rs 294 crore to the PSEB for the free power being given to various categories, the government is yet to clear the subsidy for the month of December, January and February.

When contacted, PSEB chairman HS Brar said he was hopeful that government would clear the pending subsidy soon. Meanwhile, the option to charge the farmers was under consideration of the state government, sources said. “The government has apprised the PSEB to work out modalities for fixing the tariff for tubewells at the rate of Rs 50 per BHP per month”, the sources added.