Naidu accuses Cong. of double standards

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 24. The Telugu Desam Party president and Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, launched a sharp attack on the Congress ``double standards'' in opposing proposals for power tariff revision in Andhra Pradesh while not uttering a word of criticism when Karnataka recently hiked energy charges by 17 per cent.

Addressing a meeting of TDP MLAs and senior functionaries here on Sunday, Mr. Naidu said Congress leaders were questioning the usefulness of the A. P. Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) without realising that almost every State, including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi, had set up similar bodies. Having boycotted the House Committee constituted to study power reforms in other States, Congress leaders would benefit by deputing a team to States ruled by their party.

He said Karnataka had fixed a tariff of Rs. 1.35 a unit for irrigation pumpsets in case the owners had a telephone connection, a tractor or a four-wheeler and the Government there was saying that it could not supply power if losses to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crores were not recouped. In contrast, the A. P. Government had provided a subsidy of more than Rs. 2,200 crores to the transmission corporation.

The TDP president accused the Congress of causing a huge setback to revenue collections by launching a three-month- long agitation protesting against the 15 per cent power tariff hike.

But for the Opposition's misplaced protest, the additional revenue collections would have been much higher than the sum of Rs. 540 crores actually earned by the APTRANSCO. He urged his partymen to expose before the people how the Opposition parties were trying to mislead people for selfish political ends.

Mr. Naidu said the APERC's mandate was to protect the interests of consumers too and not just the power transmission body as claimed by Congress leaders. It would allot a clear 90 days for public hearings after submission of its annual revenue requirement for 2001-02 by APTRANSCO before December 31.

The tariff would be fixed by the Electricity Regulatory Commission only after taking the Government's views into consideration. The Government had given a subsidy of more than

Rs. 2,200 crores to the APTRANSCO last year and it was open for it to extend a similar benefit this year too after assessing the situation. A white paper would soon be published highlighting the financial position of the power sector and providing clarity about the role of different bodies in finalising tariffs.

Answering questions, Mr. Naidu said the threats by the Opposition to launch agitations were meaningless as he had never stated that power tariffs would be increased. When his attention was drawn to the World Bank's condition stipulating 15 per cent overall hike this year, Mr. Naidu said this would depend upon the performance of the APTRANSCO.

If the APTRANSCO bridged the deficit by curbing pilferage and improving revenue collections, the need to hike tariff might be obviated. The Government was committed to its earlier promise of approaching the APERC for increasing the number of slabs from four to six, he added.

Earlier, at the meeting, Mr. Naidu assured the Telugu Rythu president, Mr. Baddam Narsa Reddy, that he would ask officials to probe into instances where APTRANSCO officials had cut off power

supply to villages where a few farmers had failed to clear their arrears. He offered to consider extending till January 15 the last date for payment of power surcharge by farmers.

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