Power tarriff hike: Pressure mounts for a rollback

By R.J. Rajendra Prasad

HYDERABAD, JUNE 13. The effort of the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, to enlist the Telugu Desam Party cadre to expose the ``disinformation campaign'' of the Opposition parties

on the hike in power tariff, has met with a setback - the party cadre, too, does not seem convinced that the steep hike was necessary in the first place.

At a general body meeting of the ruling party in Chittoor, several functionaries suggested that the Government lift the ban on arrack, and with that revenue, roll back the hike in power tariff.

Another TDP general body meeting in Kurnool district was marked by criticism that Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was not ``rewarding'' sincere party workers, a charge levelled by Mr. S.V. Subba Reddy, MLA, and his son-in-law, Mr. Bhuma Nagi Reddy, MP, both of whom have been nursing a grouse against the Chief Minister since the former was dropped from the Cabinet. This has come in the wake of a strong letter from the Deputy Speaker, Mr. A. Chandrasekhara Rao, urging Mr. Naidu ``not to remove the langot'' (last piece of cloth) from the common man through the hike.

These comments have embarrassed the Chief Minister; the general impression being how can Mr. Naidu convince the general population about the logic of the tariff hike when he is unable to persuade his own party.

Left invites BJP

Added to this, the CPI, CPI(M) and nine other Left parties, which formed a united front to carry on the agitation against the hike, have succeeded in roping in the Congress(I) into a `Aikya Vedika' (common platform) to continue the agitation.

Adding salt to the wound, the CPI(M) secretary, Mr. B.V. Raghavulu, has invited the TDP's ally, the BJP, to join the combined agitation, since the BJP too wants a reduction in the power tariff. Mr. Raghavulu, in fact, wants Mr. Naidu to go to the people on some sort of a referendum about the new tariffs.

The issue has become sensitive for two reasons: the abrupt manner in which the hike was announced at 9 p.m. on a Saturday by the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) without any explanation about the logic of the hike; and the fact that the issue overshadowed the TDP delegates' session in Vijayawada the next two days.

The ERC fixed an exorbitant tariff of 390 paise a unit for consumers in the 51-200 units per month bracket, and 615 paise in the 201-400 bracket. The Government had to intervene by agreeing to pay the A.P. Transmission Corporation (APTransco) Rs. 800 crores to subsidise a scaling down of the hike to 295 and 450 paise.

The Chief Minister's assertion that ERC was an independent, semi- judicial authority, which imposed its decision on APTransco based on a study of its financial position, was rejected by the Opposition parties, which contended that the ERC was ``hand-in- glove with the Chief Minister'', and that the announcement of a higher level of tariff first and the subsequent scaling down was ``part of a drama''.

Middle-class domestic consumers have to live with a 50 per cent hike in their bills, and any hike is unpopular. No family would be convinced to pay more for the same quality of power supply, whatever the arguments and the comparisons with the tarriff in West Bengal, Karnataka or Maharashtra.

The TDP is organising an extended meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday to which all MLAs, MPs, former MLAs and former MPs, besides nominated heads of public corporations and Mayors, have been invited. The Chief Minister has said that he is convinced the people would understand the compulsions of the unpopular decision if the reasons are put across convincingly.

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Section  : Southern States
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