Govt. to educate people about power reforms

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 22. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, has asked all his Ministers, APTRANSCO officials and TDP leaders to go to the people to explain the philosophy underlying the power sector reforms.

Mr. Naidu give these directions during a teleconference with his Cabinet colleagues, TDP MPs in Delhi and Government officials this morning against the backdrop of the statement by Mr. G. P. Rao, A. P. Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC), that public hearings would begin next month to discuss power tariff proposals for 2001-2002.

According to TDP sources, Mr. Naidu said people must be educated about the reforms to avoid any scope for confusion over Mr. Rao's remarks stating that the APERC had no option other than passing on full revenue requirements to consumers though the final tariff was subject to subsidy by the Government.

The Chief Minister is reported to have explained to Ministers that APTRANSCO had to file its annual requirements after which APERC was required to call for objections from the public and seek the State Government's views before taking a final decision on the revising the tariff. The Government would stick to its earlier decision to request the APERC to increase the number of tariff slabs from four to six.

Mr. Naidu said the question of the Government announcing any subsidy did not arise at this stage. Moreover, there were two kinds of subsidies -- a cross-subsidy among various categories of consumers and direct subsidy by the Government which would have to be included in the State budget for 2001-2002. The entire process must be explained to the people. He later held a meeting with senior officials of the Energy Department and APTRANSCO.

Meanwhile, the TDP spokesman, Mr. R. Chandrasekhara Reddy, told reporters that he could spell out the party's stand on tariff revision proposals only after the Government submitted its views to the APERC in January. For now, the Government was committed to increasing the tariff slabs from four to six.

Other issues that figured at the teleconference were rice procurement by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the attack on the correspondent of a Telugu daily by the Kandukur TDP legislator, Dr. Divi Sivaram, besides the postponement of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament.

The Chief Minister made it clear to Mr. K. Yerran Naidu, TD Parliamentary Party leader, that it was committed to passage of the Women's Reservation Bill without any dilution. He asked the MPs to press the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution to expeditiously issue a comprehensive GO about the modalities of rice procurement besides instructing District Collectors to open as many rice purchase centres as possible without worrying about availability of funds.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Major offensive planned against globalisation
Next     : Russian troupe, audience taken for a ride?